Sweet Chocolate
by chatcat
Summary: First fanfic. Marriage law. Snape survived the war, and came back to teach DADA at Hogwarts. Harry, Hermione and Ron go back to finish their 7th year. The misunderstood introduction of a muggle Easter tradition leads to Hermione and Snape starting to see each other in a different light shortly before the marriage law is introduced. Rated M for later chapters. I own nothing.
1. Chapter 1

The school was buzzing and owls were delivering letters right and left. It had been two days since Professor Bilding, the new Muggle Studies teacher, had told some of the students about the Scandinavian tradition of chocolate-egg letters, and the students had taken the opportunity for a mix of both fun and chocolate. They had made letters, some with remarkable clippings others with no clippings at all, but all containing little verses and dots instead of the signature – one dot for each letter in the senders name. The receiver had to guess, who had sent the letter. If the name was not guessed, the sender could come forward and claim a chocolate egg. If the sender was guessed, he or she owed a chocolate egg to the one who had received the letter. Hermione had tried to correct the obvious mistake, as she tried explaining, that this was an Easter-tradition and not a fall tradition, but she had been thoroughly ignored, as people seemed intent on playing the chocolate-egg game now.

Hermione received another letter. She opened it and smiled, as she read the text: "Mione it's almost chocolate-time now, if you don't guess my name don't have a cow" The letter was signed with three dots. Hermione laughed out loud and looked over at Ron before saying: "Ron! You owe me a chocolate-egg". Ron looked surprised: "Aw Mione, how did you know?" He looked so disappointed, it made Hermione laugh so hard, she almost choked on her pumpkin juice.

Snape heard a sparkling laughter over the chatting and buzzing from the students and looked over at the Gryffindor table. His eyes narrowed, as he saw the curly head of the Gryffindor know-it-all bopping up and down with laughter before starting to cough and splutter, while the annoying red headed Weasley boy dunked her in the back. He didn't understand why they had returned to Hogwarts after the war. Of course it was to be expected, that the girl would return for her N.E.W.T.'s but it had come as a surprise to both him and the other teachers, that Harry and the Weasley boy had returned. After the war he had gained a somewhat tolerable relationship with the boy who lived, and the Granger girl had apparently kept watch over him, while he recovered. He had been told, she was the one who had sent the patronus that had ensured, he was found in time. The Weasley-boy was just the same, and Snape had never understood, what his role was in the trio or anywhere really. Snape looked over at Professor McGonagall the new head of the school. He had declined the position and agreed to teach DADA instead.

Suddenly Snape's attention was caught by an owl circling in on him and dropping a letter. Snape looked at the letter in confusion. It was obviously one of those chocolate-egg letters, but who would dare... Snape looked up and realized, most of the student body had stopped talking and were looking at him. His eyes met the hazel eyes of the Granger girl, before he glared over the hall, took the letter and left.

Back in his chambers he opened the letter. The paper was cut in beautiful patterns with letters wound in between saying "My name is written in a dot. I hope you will forget me not." It was signed with 8 dots. In his mind Snape went through the students, whose names contained 8 letters. Who on earth could think, he would appreciate being part of this ridiculous tradition; who would dare send him that silly letter? Nothing had changed. He knew, he was still intimidating the students, so who would want to engage him in this weird game? He tried different spells to make the writing reveal, who had sent the letter, but it was magically warded. Suddenly it dawned on him, as he had a flash back from laying in the hospital bed. Every time he had surfaced just enough to slightly open his eyes, he had seen the young witch. The curly head resting against the back of the chair she was sleeping in. A cooling cloth pressed against his forehead and hazel eyes looking at him. Her voice whispering his name, asking if he could hear her. And then one day she was gone. It had to be her, she was the only student who would do this. Snape threw the letter on his desk, intent on ignoring it. After a while he went back and picked it up again,while mumbling "insolent child" under his breath.

* * *

Hermione was excited about being back at school, but today she was nervous before her DADA class. She wasn't sure, what had made her send Professor Snape that chocolate-egg letter. She had noticed, she was thinking about him a lot, and she had never stopped wondering, if he would have recovered faster, if she had reacted differently. If he could have been spared some of all the pain, if she had not left him there in the shack after the snake had attacked him. She had visited him in the hospital wing, and had seen him comatosed but still writhing in pain. So she had come back day after day, until she was called back to Grimmauld place. She took a deep breath and walked in to the classroom.

Snape threw the doors open and marched in, his robes billowing around him. The room grew quiet and everyone seemed to hold their breath. He looked condescendingly around the room, while he instructed them in the exercises of the day, paired them up and told them to start practising. As he walked around the room, he found his eyes drifting towards the Granger girl, and a few times he caught her looking away, when he looked in her direction. He was unsure what made him look at her, but she was very gifted and although most of the students in her year had some experience from the war, she was one of the best in her class. That had to be it, he thought; that had to be why his eyes kept wandering to her. Snape sneered a correction, as he passed her. No need to let her think, she was better than everyone else. He noticed her surprised look, and for a moment he met her eyes and felt an instant tugging inside of him. He turned on his heel and marched away. Hermione felt her cheeks blushing; probably from the effort of duelling, she thought, as she looked at her professor walking away. Her heart sunk. She was sure, he blamed her for leaving him in the shack, and for his long recovery. He had nearly not made it, and Hermione knew, it would have been her fault, if he had died. She was sure, he thought the same.

As she returned to her room later that day, she found a box on her bed. Hermione looked for a note, and not finding one, she eyed the box suspiciously. It was fairly big and covered with emerald-green velvet. She carefully lifted the lid of. Inside was a beautiful chocolate-egg, covered with a fine carved pattern similar to the one she had cut out for the letter, she had sent Professor Snape. She stared at it for a long time and tentatively ran her finger across it, before she placed it on her bedside table and smiled without knowing exactly why.


	2. Chapter 2

**bluefirefly5**: Thank you so much for your kind review! The Easter-egg letters is a Scandinavian tradition – but as Easter is late in the school year, I wanted to place the game early in the story and thought that misunderstanding when to play a Muggle game, would be something the wizards would do.

**A/N**: Please review so I know, if people are enjoying the story, or if I should stop writing it.

* * *

The next morning Hermione sat in the hall eating her breakfast, while Ron and Harry talked passionately about the upcoming quidditsch game. Hermione looked at Professor Snape, who seemed to be deep in conversation with Professor McGonagall. She wondered, if she should thank him for the chocolate or perhaps tell him, that he had misunderstood the game. Since he had guessed the letter was from her, he didn't have to give her chocolate; she would have had to buy him a chocolate-egg. She realized, he might be angry no matter what she did: He might be angry, if she was so ill-mannered not to thank him; he might be angry if she thought it okay to talk to him in order to thank him; he might be angry, if he found out, he had not needed to give her the chocolate-egg; and he definitely might be angry, if he found out, she had known and still taken the egg. There really was no winning this. Hermione sighed and looked at her plate with untouched breakfast. Why on earth had she made the letter and sent it to him..

Harry looked at Hermione, when she sighed, and exchanged a knowing glance with Ron. Everyone who had stayed at Grimmauld Place after the war knew, that Hermione was suffering from terrible nightmares, and usually that left her tired and exhausted. Harry and Ron had tried talking to her about it, and he knew, Professor McGonagall had tried to help her by offering to obliviate the worst of her memories, but Hermione had refused to even talk about it. Harry put his hand on her shoulder: "Are you all right, Hermione?"

Hermione jumped a little as he ripped her out of her thoughts and spilled some pumpkin juice on her robe. She looked at her robe, and when she looked up, her eyes briefly caught Professor Snape's eyes at the teacher's table. She felt clumsy and embarrassed and..."Oh Harry, you scared me" she said, trying to dry of the juice from her robe. Looking at Harry and Ron's questioning faces, she stood up and smiled at them: "I'm fine. I'm just a little tired. I'll just go change to another robe before classes." She quickly left. "She doesn't have classes until this afternoon" Harry looked at Ron, who continued: "And why didn't she just use a cleaning-spell on her robe?". Harry shrugged, and let his eyes follow his friend, as she left the dining hall. "Harry?" Ron said, almost in a whisper "you don't think it is because of me, do you? I mean, we both agreed, we didn't match, but sometimes I wonder, if the times we kissed have made her feel awkward around me?" Harry patted Ron's back "I don't think, that is it Ron. I think, she still doesn't sleep because of the nightmares." "Oh... good" Ron said, immediately clasping a hand in front of his mouth: "Not, _good_ but better. No. I mean. Not good that she's having nightmares. But good..." Harry laughed: "Don't worry Ron, I know, what you mean."

Snape had watched Hermione out of the corner of his eye, since she entered the hall for breakfast. He had felt her eyes on him all morning, and it made him uneasy. He had wanted to send her a strict glare, but for some reason had not. She annoyed him more than usually, especially since he had sent her that chocolate-egg. He could not explain, why he had bought it and sent it to her, in the first place. But why he had taken the time to place a spell on it, so the chocolate carvings matched the clippings from her letter, was beyond his own understanding. The girl was annoying. He shouldn't even have given her chocolate, since he had guessed, the letter was from her. He felt a knot forming in his stomach; she shouldn't have sent him the letter! He looked up, as he heard a small shriek coming from her direction, and his eyes locked with hers. He felt frozen and watched as she blushed, broke eye contact and stood up in what to him suddenly seemed like slow-motion. She smiled at the trio-boys and left the room. Snape snapped back to reality, as Professor Bilding asked him a to pass the salt.

* * *

Half an hour later, Hermione walked up the tower, holding a green, velvet box. Before the war, she had found out, Professor Snape usually came here, looking out over the open spaces in front of the school. She had wandered here by accident the first time, she had found him here, and had thought, he hadn't heard her. She had watched him, as he seemed to stare at the world and at nothing, until he had snarled at her to leave. Since then she had started up the stairs several times without really knowing why, and as soon as she saw his back in front of the open arch, she turned around and left.

Today she had looked for him in his classroom, but it had been empty, so she had decided to look in the tower. As she reached the top landing, she saw him standing with his back at her, looking out at the open spaces. She stopped at the top of the stairs, took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, as she heard his distinct voice: "Miss Granger, what brings you here to once again disturb me?" He turned around and glared at her in what had to be contempt. Hermione swallowed hard. She looked at him, avoiding his eyes; she couldn't meet his eyes, not after leaving him that horrible night. She held out the box: "Sir, I wanted to thank you for the chocolate-egg, it is so beautiful. But since you guessed, the letter was from me, it wouldn't be right for me to take it. I should be giving you something instead..."

Snape glared at her, as he spoke: "Ah Miss Know-it-all has returned, I see. And you think yourself so superior, that you know the game better than I do? Need I remind you, you are merely a student? The game is wrong to begin with, it is supposed to be played at Easter, and why you would find it appropriate, to involve me in your childish games, I do not know, but let me take the damned egg off your hands if you do not want it!" He looked fuming with anger as he took a step towards her, and stretched out his hand. Hermione was taken aback by the gravity of his anger, and for some reason felt tears welling up, blurring her vision. As he suddenly took a step towards her, she instinctively stepped back, into nothing. She gasped as she realised, that only the descending stairs were behind her, and she started falling.

Snape had heard her coming up the stairs, and had felt annoyed. Why did she keep coming back to his one place of solitude? This was where he came to think; the view and the wind helping him clear his mind. And especially today, as _she_ was on his mind. The memory of her caring for him, while he was ill, the knowledge that she was the reason, he had survived, haunting his mind - he didn't need her interruptions! He turned with an insult, and heard her explaining, why she didn't want his present. He felt a stinging in his breast, that annoyed him. Without time to figure out, why this hurt him, without wanting to find out, he instead opted for anger, as he chastised the girl. If she had not wanted the damned chocolate, she should have left him alone. He took a step towards her, ready to rip the damned thing out of her hands and throw it out the window. He saw her eyes shimmering with tears before widening in shock, as she took a step backwards and started falling into the abyss behind her. He quickly ran towards her just in time to get a hold of her hand and yank her forward. The impact made her small body crash into him, and he fell backwards hitting the floor, Hermione landing on top of him.

She landed with her face pressed into his shoulder, and for a minute they just lay there, hearts racing from the shock. Snape's arms had instinctively come around her, holding her firmly to him. As his thoughts slowed and the adrenalin wore off, he started loosening his grip. "Miss Granger? Are you all right? Are you hurt?" Hermione slowly lifted her head, until their eyes met, noses almost touching, and both of them froze. Snape looked into deep hazel and gold, and felt lost in her eyes. They still held shimmering tears, and he could feel her breath on his lips. A streak of her hair had come loose and hung in her face, tickling his nose. Without thought, he raised his hand and gently tucked it behind her ear. He felt an urge to close the small distance between them, but suddenly reality came crushing back. He jumped up, taking her with him and holding her steady but at arms length. The girl looked just as confused as he felt and again avoided meeting his eyes. That clumsy, annoying girl, why would she.. Before he could work up another rage, he heard her gasp and saw her fall to her knees. He looked at her in surprise, as he saw her picking up the pieces of the chocolate-egg, she had dropped. "Oh Professor" she said, finally looking at him with big tears running down her cheeks "I ruined it. I dropped it, and now it's broken. And after you bought it for me, even though... even though..." She started sobbing uncontrollably.

Snape looked at the girl in astonishment. For Merlin's sake, it was only a chocolate-egg! How could that make the proud and strong Granger girl fall apart like that? He wanted to tell her off and to leave but had a sudden flashback of her hand brushing away his hair from his fevered forehead, and before thinking, he took her by the arm, pulled her up and gently brushed away her tears with his thumb. She stopped sobbing and looked up at him. His hand stopped it's movement, still cupping her cheek. He bowed his head towards her, and his hair fell down on each side of them, like curtains. "It's only a chocolate-egg Miss Granger". Hermione thought, he almost smiled. She felt her stomach and heart flutter, and thought he must be able to hear it. She started lifting her face towards his.

Just before meeting her lips, Snape suddenly straightened up and pushed her away. His eyes were back to their usual condescending glare: "Well, Miss Granger, it seems you are all right. I suggest you take better care of where you place those clumsy feet of yours." He walked around Hermione and quickly disappeared down the steps.

Hermione followed him with her eyes, before she sat down and cried all of her frustration, confusion and guilt out. She didn't understand, what had just happened. She knew, he had always been annoyed by her, and that now he must hate her for leaving him in the shack. She wanted his forgiveness more than anything and still felt, she didn't deserve it. And then she had almost fallen, and he had caught her. The feeling of his arms around her, as they had fallen back on the ground, and she had landed on top of him, had been one of pure safety. He had sounded almost concerned, when he had asked her, if she was all right. And then... had they almost kissed? Hermione shook her head. The shock of almost falling down the stairs must be clouding her mind. He had pushed her away, of that she was sure. And then she had seen the shattered chocolate-egg, and suddenly it had reminded her, how she had failed him in the Shrieking Shack, and how he had still bought her a present, making all her guilt resurface. She didn't understand, how he had changed again so quickly, why he had comforted her, but her cheek still ached in a sweet way, after the touch of his thumb, brushing away her tears, and she could still feel the huff of his breath on her face, as he told her, it was just a chocolate-egg. She was sure, she had wanted to kiss him. He must have noticed, since he had left so suddenly. Great, now she had also embarrassed herself! It must have been the shock of almost falling down the stairs and breaking her neck. Hermione straightened her back and shoved the thoughts out of her mind with a sharp intake of breath, and started walking down the stairs.

Meanwhile Snape sat in his private chambers, staring at nothing and muttering: "What the hell almost happened..." In his mind, he went through the events in the tower and reached the only plausible explanation: adrenalin! It was all due to adrenalin after the clumsy witch had almost fallen to her death. Annoying, little know-it-all. He shrugged the thoughts away and headed for the classrooms.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Thank you so much for your reviews and corrections, it is so nice to know, that someone is reading the fanfiction. IND520: I have corrected the misspelled word (you are absolutely right, I am not a native English speaker) and have tried to use less commas :-)

How the letters sent in the Easter tradition can look, can be seen if you copy the Danish word gækkebrev into your google search engine and look under pictures ;-)

* * *

Over the next few weeks things had pretty much gotten back to normal, or at least as normal as they could get. Hermione had not had another run in with Professor Snape. At meals, she tried her best not to look at him, and in class he treated her with the same amount of condescension, as he did everybody else. She also found, that the events in the tower seemed to surface much less in her mind as the days went by. She almost only thought about it, when her mind drifted away from her studies, and her studies took even more of her time now than before the war. The curriculum was bigger and harder, and she seemed to have to study harder than before, probably because she was always so tired. The nightmares had not stopped, and Headmistress McGonagall had given her a room of her own, complete with soundproofing silencing spells and all. Hermione sighed at the thought of it. She understood why, she could not sleep in the dormitory with the other girls, and she knew, McGonagall had thought, it would be better for Hermione, if she had her privacy. But to Hermione the sounds of the other girls had had a calming effect, and the nightmares seemed to have only gotten worse, since she had been given her own bedchamber. She didn't complain though, as she knew it wasn't fair to the other girls to be woken up every night by her screams.

Snape had fallen back to his old habit of being the snarling professor, that most children feared. However the new students seemed to have arrived to the school having read about him in the paper and knowing him as the big war hero, and they seemed determined to view him in the same category as Potter. Subsequently they seemed to view him more with reverence than with fear. It didn't matter much, since the result was the same: for the most part they were quiet and did as they were told. The elder students acted much in the same way except a few of them, who seemed to think, he would have gone soft after not having to lead a life as a double spy, and mistakenly thought they could talk to him in the friendly way they had talked to Dumbledore or Remus. Luckily a good snarling and some detention had driven that notion out of them, and he was again left to do, as he had always done. With one exception. The Granger girl didn't act as she had before. She never raised her hand in his class any more, she didn't talk back, didn't sulk and didn't laugh. At first he had thought, it was the effect the war had had on her, especially after McGonagall had aired her concerns about her at a teachers conference. She seemed to be struggling with severe nightmares and subsequent sleep deprivation. But it didn't seem to effect her as severely in any other classes. Snape found his thoughts drifting to the day in the tower over and over again, and he cringed with shame every time. Over the years he had upheld a level of self-control even Dumbledore had admired, and he had faced more dangers than most wizards without loosing his controlled appearance. And yet that day in the tower his control had slipped, and he could not explain why, but he had almost kissed the girl, his _student_. He closed his eyes briefly and shook his head before heading out to do his evening rounds. Perhaps he could find some students out past curfew and delegate some detention..

Hermione woke screaming, covered in sweat and heart pounding. She sat up and dried her eyes, while she tried to gain control of her breathing. It was the same every night, only the people differed. The people she had not been able to save. She saw them again and again, and every time she knew, she had failed. She had not been bright enough, clever enough, fast enough, fearless enough. She saw the people that had died, all the students and teachers, the people she had loved and failed, the dead bodies of Sirius, Tonks, Remus, Fred and in her dreams she sometimes even saw Harry and Ron dying. But every dream ended with the death of Severus Snape. She got up and threw her robe around her, as she walked into the common room. The room was empty,and she sat on the couch for a brief moment looking into the fireplace, before she got up and walked out. She was restless and needed to move, although she had no clear idea, where she was heading. Suddenly she found herself climbing the stairs to the tower and walking to where he always stood. The view was breathtaking in the pale moonlight. She didn't know how long she had been standing there, but suddenly she flinched, as she heard a distinct voice snarling her name:

"Miss Granger, and what pray tell are you doing up here at this hour?"

Hermione turned around: "Sir, I'm sorry.. I couldn't sleep, and I needed to get out of my room"

Snape noticed, she avoided his eyes. Was she embarrassed by his behaviour the last time they were up here? He did his best not to let any emotion show:

"20 points from Gyffindor. If you need to get out of the luxury of having your own room, there _is_ the possibility of going to your house's common room without breaking curfew. Or is the common room not good enough for the princess of Gryffindor?"

Hermione's eyes shot up and met his. She raised her chin in defiance.

"Luxury? You think, that is luxury? Being confined to seclusion because others can't be around you" she spat and continued:

"Only someone like you would see that as luxury! You look down on all the rest of us, and can't be bothered to be around anybody. You have no idea, what you are talking about, _Sir_!"

She was fuming with anger and was the most beautiful creature Snape had ever laid eyes on. She marched up to him and stood right in front of him before continuing in a hiss:

"You returned from the war a hero. Everybody knows what you did, what you sacrificed. You can rest your head in peace every night. I..." She had to swallow in order to continue without breaking down and crying, she didn't want to prove to him, just how big of a failure she was:

"I can go to bed every night, and remember how I failed everyone"

She heard herself continue, and knew she should stop, but she was too tired and too angry to care:

"I can see the faces of all of you dying, every time I close my eyes. All my classmates, the smaller children, Tonks, Sirius, Fred, Remus and you. I can see myself leaving you to die every time I fall asleep! So no Professor the common room wasn't good enough. I needed to get out and feel the cool air and see for myself, that everything was at peace..."

She stopped her rant, and suddenly felt embarrassed. She looked up at him, standing there right in front of her, and she was certain, she could see contempt in his eyes. He gripped her left arm with his hand, and lowered his face slightly as he spoke:

"Miss Granger, you fought bravely through the war and you didn't leave me in the Shrieking Shack to die. You sent your patronus for help. If you had not had the compassion and the intelligence to do so, I would not be here today"

She shook her head and started to cry:

"No, no, no. I just left. I saw you die in front of me and I left. I only sent the patronus, but I saw you die and you looked so lost, and now I see you dying every night, you and all the others, but always you.. dying..."

Hermione buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Snape was stunned. He had no idea how to react to such an amount of raw feelings, and without thinking, he put his arms around her, and kissed the top of her curly head.

"You didn't" he said "You didn't see me die. Miss Granger... look at me!" He said the last part more angrily than he felt, in order to make her look up at him. Hermione suddenly felt much calmer in his embrace. She took a deep and shuddering breath and looked up at him. Their eyes locked, and Snape felt the tugging inside of him again. He could not believe, she felt guilty, after all she had done. He wanted the girl to know, what she had done for him and everybody else, he wanted her to be happy and he wanted to see those eyes without tears in them again.. and something deep inside of him wanted her to always stand so close to him. He bowed his head and touched his lips to hers, and suddenly every thought disappeared and there was only her mouth under his, her body in his arms, her breath against his.

Hermione felt everything disappear as Snape suddenly lowered his face to hers. She lifted her head and met his lips, as he pressed them against hers. She sighed and let her head fall to one side as he kissed her neck and pressed her up against one of the beams. She held onto him, as he lifted her up and she lifted her legs around his waist. Her robe fell open, revealing that she only wore night-shorts and a tank-top underneath. She slid her fingers in his hair, and sighed as he kissed a trail of fire down her shoulder following the strap, as he pulled it down and she pressed herself against him.

And just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. He pushed himself away and stood panting, looking at her with burning eyes. Hermione felt light-headed and confused. She didn't want to think, and she wanted the feeling of his body against hers. She took a step forward, but he raised his hand and stopped her.

"I'm sorry" he said, looking at her with confusion: "I have no idea, what came over me, but I assure you, it will never happen again". He looked almost sick.

Suddenly reality hit Hermione. She had been kissing Snape. She had kissed him, and moaned and arched into his touch. But first she had cried and ranted. She had all in all behaved in a way, that could only make him see her as a mad and erratic fool, offering herself up to anyone. She closed her eyes, and tried to understand, what she felt. Suddenly she felt cold and embarrassed, and she pulled up the strap of her top and tugged her robe around her. She looked down and bit her lip.

Snape stood frozen not knowing what to do. Finally he asked in a whisper: "Miss Granger, are you all right? Did I hurt you"

Hermione shook her head, curls bopping around, and he wanted to bury his hands in them... what was _wrong_ with him? He had just crossed a line, he would have never thought possible, and had forced himself on the young witch. He loathed himself more than ever before. She must despise him, perhaps she was even afraid of him. He brushed his hands through his hair and sighed.

Then she looked up at him nervously:"No professor, you didn't hurt me... not at all. I'm sorry for having acted so intrusive. If you will forgive me, I will just go back to my chamber now." She looked down again and he noticed a blush spreading over her face.

"Of course Miss Granger" he stood uncertain for a second "please allow me to escort you back to the Gryffindor common room." He took a step aside and let her pass down the stairs first, then he followed her back to the common room maintaining a safe distance between them. Just before she disappeared behind the painting, she looked up at him shyly and said:

"Goodnight Professor, and thank you for seeing me back safe"

He bowed his head: "Goodnight Miss Granger" and then she was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** Someone pointed out to me, that we are no longer supposed to comment individually on the reviews here. Instead let me just say thank you, to those of you who have taken the time to review – it is the only payment fanficwriters get for the stories and I looove my reviews. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter... and sadly I own none of the characters

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Hermione stood in front of the classroom, trying to gain enough courage to enter her DADA class. Her musings were cut short, as Harry and Ron came up to her and each took hold of one of her arms, dragging her with them while they chatted utterly oblivious to her predicament. She sighed and gathered her courage, put a smile on her face and tried to focus on the vivid explanations of the expected quidditch outcome of the afternoon. As usual they gathered with the other students in the middle of the room instead of sitting at desks, and waited for the professor to arrive. The room immediately fell quiet, as he slammed the door open and marched in, black robes billowing around him.

"There will be no practical exercises today today. Please be seated and try to focus your little minds on the fact, that Defence Against the Dark Arts requires an extraordinary amount of knowledge. A 3 scroll paper on the use of Nonverbal Spells by tomorrow"

Snape glared around the classroom as the students moaned and went to find their seats. His eyes stopped briefly as they met Hermione's. She froze for a second, then gave him a small smile and headed for her seat between Ron and Harry. He didn't reciprocate her smile, but turned around to admonish another student, and Hermione felt her heart sink.

She sat down and started on her paper, ignoring Ron who repeatedly yanked at her robe, wanting her to tell him what to write. Ever so often, she glanced at the front of the class, where Snape was sitting at his desk apparently deeply engrossed in reading some scrolls. She didn't know, what she had expected. She had feared awkwardness and had hoped, they could just pretend last night had never happened. Or at least she had thought, that was what she had hoped, until he had actually acted as if nothing had happened. She started writing but could hardly concentrate, when suddenly an idea crept in to her mind. She argued with herself for a some time, while she almost mechanically started to write the essay. Yes, she had feared, that it would become awkward, when she walked into his class, and she had hoped, they could pretend nothing had happened. But now she didn't want him to be able to just pretend. The kiss had kept her up all night, the memory of it replaying in her head. She didn't know exactly why, but she wanted to keep popping up in his mind, just like he did in hers. She shook her head lightly at the thought. She knew, he kept popping up in her head because she felt guilty, but lately he had also started slipping into her mind in another way.. in a more undefinable way. Ever since that letter she had given him. She smiled to herself as she finished up her third scroll, and walked to the front of the class while the other students started leaving. She was the only one, who had finished the assignment in class. She stood at the front of his desk and waited for him to look up from his papers. When he did, she held out the scrolls.

"Ah the little Miss Know-it-all has already finished" he said, glaring at her with the usual contempt in his voice but not quite looking her in the eyes. She felt her heart sink once more. She hated when he called her that. As he took the scrolls from her, his fingers brushed over hers, and as she gasped, she didn't notice his sharp intake of breath. His eyes shot to hers and seemed to lock them in his dark ones. Time stood still while they gazed at each other, both holding on to the scrolls, his fingers covering hers. Suddenly sound seemed to come back into the world as they could hear the next class' students approaching, and they jumped apart. Hermione took the breath, she didn't know, she had been holding. His eyes seemed to have gone back to their usual disdainful glare, as he stood up with the scrolls in his hand and drawled:

"Well, Miss Granger, you seem to be late for your next class"

And in a dark cloud of billowing robes, he retreated into his adjoining office. Hermione stood for a moment trying to regain her composure, before she hurried along.

Over the next two days, she just followed the motions. She talked with her friends, she laughed almost credible at their jokes, she did her homework, helped Ron with his, ate a little at mealtimes and woke screaming from nightmares every night. Every now and then, she would catch Harry looking at her with a worried frown, but she would smile and ask him something about quidditsch or point his attention towards Ginny, so she didn't have to answer questions, she had no answers to. At mealtimes she kept glancing at the head-table, but Snape never looked at her. She had her plan worked out but tried her best not to dwell on the questions, she could not answer. Why did she want him to think of her? Why did she think about him? Why did she want so badly for him to look up at mealtimes and meet her eyes? She let out a sigh. It was probably the guilt from leaving him that fateful night. There was no other explanation.

Finally the last classes of the week came, and Hermione entered the DADA room. To everybody's surprise Snape was already there, waving his wand at the board where letters immediately appeared to let them know, which curses they were to practice defending themselves against. He paired them up and they started practising.

As usual he paired Hermione with Harry, who was to much of a gentleman to put all of his power behind the spells. Hermione tried to push him, but instead of pushing back he just warded off her spells and complimented her with his usual "Well done Hermione".

"Mr Potter," a dark voice suddenly came from behind Hermione "I put the two of you together, because you have matching strength and experience. You might be The Boy Who Lived...twice, but contrary to what you seem to believe, there are still things for you to learn. You are not in here to show off your capabilities as a gentleman, but to learn how to become a better fighter. Now see if you can be bothered to actually cast a functioning spell at Miss Granger."

Hermione could see Harry got annoyed at the condescending rebuke from Snape, and he threw a harder spell at her while immediately apologizing. While she warded it of and retorted with a spell, that made him take a few steps backwards, she heard Snape, still standing behind her, say: "Well, that was disappointing Mr Potter. Perhaps you survived on mere luck, althugh I would have assumed, your late godfather had taught you more than to bark at trees. Do try again."

Hermione was distracted at the proximity to the man, she could hear just behind her, and it took more effort than she liked, not to turn around and look at him. At the same time she was shocked by the cruelty of his words to Harry, and she wasn't prepared when Harry hit her with the next spell.

Hermione fell backwards and collided with Snape, sending them both to the ground. She felt his arms closing around her, as she fell backwards on top of him. Even through her surprise, she felt a glimpse of contentedness at having his arms wrap around her.

Within a few seconds, Snape had gotten back up, taking Hermione with him, and in the commotion and entanglement of their bodies, she felt his arms briefly tightening around her front almost like an embrace, while he whispered so close to her, she shivered as his breath brushed her ear: "Are you all right?"

She nodded her head and he let go of her and stepped back so quickly, she wasn't even sure, the last part had happened.

"Much better Mr Potter, now if you could be bothered to keep that level of commitment to the task, maybe Miss Granger would learn something." He started walking away, while Ginny rushed over to help Hermione, who was looking confused and flushed.

"And Miss Granger" he added nonchalantly "10 point from Gryffindor for not concentrating in class".

As the class came to an end Snape found himself sitting behind his desk pretending to grade papers. He could still feel the soft warmth from Hermione's body against his, as they fell backwards, and he could still smell her unique scent, from when he had briefly curled his arms around her, to ask if she was all right. He scowled. He had no idea, why he had done that, and she irritated him with her mere presence. She was always there. In his classroom, in the halls, at meals, in his sleep... He looked up as the last student left the classroom and sighed inwardly. The _next to last_ student had left the classroom. The Granger-girl was walking up to his desk.

"Miss Granger" he said, putting all the annoyance he could manage into his voice "class is dismissed. I would think you would be off to enjoy your weekend"

Hermione stopped briefly at the harsh tone but then continued to walk towards him, stopping when she reached his desk.

"Professor, I bought you this, instead of the one I was so clumsy to break, when I dropped it" she said the words quickly, not able to hide a hint of nervousness, and held out a red velvet box.

Snape looked at the box suspiciously, not moving to take it from her. Hermione moved her hand as to indicate he should take it.

"It's just a chocolate-egg, Sir" she said and tried to make him accept the box. "I should have been the one to give you chocolate in the first place, since you guessed my letter."

Snape stood and took a step backwards, folding his arms over his chest. "Miss Granger" he said, and for a split-second she thought, she saw his eyes flicker nervously "I have no intention on keep playing that children's game with you. Please take your gift with you and leave"

"It's just a chocolate-egg Professor" she said, put the red velvet box on his table and left.

Snape looked at the box and sat down at his desk again. With a swift motion of his wand he closed the door to the classroom and picked up the box. He had no idea, why the girl insisted on involving him in the silly game, and why she kept it going. The other students had moved on to other games and mischiefs, and he was not one to take part in the daily activities and games at Hogwarts. Everybody knew that. He sighed and opened the box. The chocolate-egg was similar to the one, he had given her, but had to s'es engraved at the front. He let his finger trace the pattern and his mind drifted to the day in the tower, when she had dropped the chocolate-egg he had given her, and the night where he had kissed her. Her deep brown and golden eyes, the feel of her hair gliding between his fingers, her body pressed to his, the sound of her moaning, her lips...

He stood up abruptly shutting the box with a snap, hand tightening around it and drawing back. Then he growled, put down the box, took the glass of water from the table and threw it against the far wall. He grabbed the red velvet box and stormed out of the room.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N I am so grateful for my reviews. Thank you very much for taking the time to let me know, what your thoughts are

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Hermione stood from the breakfast table and headed for the door, when she heard Ron shout out: "Oi Hermione, wait up". She turned and waited for her friends who looked at her with questioning faces.

"I realize DADA classes are more interesting now, that Snape teaches them, and we actually get to practise, but are you really so eager to have classes, that you no longer have time for your friends?" He playfully put an arm around her. Hermione looked up at him and smiled. Then her eyes drifted to the teachers' table and for a hint of a moment she locked eyes with Professor Snape, before she saw his eyes become even darker, and he stood up and left. Her stomach turned to a tight knot. She had been distracted all week, ever since she had presented him with the chocolate-egg. He had not said anything since, he had not looked at her at mealtimes, and DADA class had been cancelled earlier this week, so today was the first time, she would be meeting him again.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice broke through her thoughts "Honestly we are starting to worry about you. You don't seem to be yourself. Is there anything going on with you?"

"Yeah" she heard Ginny chime in, as the read headed witch caught up with the rest of them "You know, you can talk to us.. right?"

"It's nothing" Hermione shrugged them of "I've just not been sleeping well." Ron, Ginny and Harry exchanged glances, before they entered the DADA classroom.

Snape made his trade mark entrance, robes billowing around him, and gave instructions for the exercises of the day, and they started practising spells and counter-spells. Snape walked around the room correcting the students, seemingly in a worse mood than ever. He had made up his mind to ignore, what had happened with the young witch. It was a lapse in judgement, and he had no intention of repeating it. However he had felt angry when he had seen Potter put his arm around her this morning, and even worse when she had smiled up at the boy. He had had to walk out to collect his thoughts, the anger had felt almost like jealou... Snape shook his head and forced the thought out of his mind. He turned and growled a correction at Longbottom, then he continued his walk through the room until his eyes suddenly caught Hermione's. They both froze for a moment and seemed lost, before he tightened his lips, turned around and started yelling at the Swanson boy. Neither Snape nor Hermione noticed Harry's' eyes flickering between them.

Over the next two weeks life seemed to go on as usual at Hogwarts. Hermione tried to put the incidents (as she now called them in her mind) between her and her professor out of her mind. And it went fairly well. Her days had picked up a steady routine where she didn't sleep well at night but still managed her daily assignments and classes, and she did a better job at concentrating on her friends. But every now and then, she would sit in the great hall and suddenly look up and catch the eyes of Professor Snape, and they would both seem unable to look away for a few seconds. Or she would lock eyes with him in class. The first few times it happened, she had just felt this growing knot in her stomach, but one day in class Harry had hit her with a spell that knocked her over, and she had dropped her wand. Snape had been standing right behind her, and as she got up, he had handed her the wand, and their fingers had grazed. She had felt a shock run through her body and had looked up into the dark pools of his eyes, and suddenly she had felt a warm feeling fill her up, and she had smiled at him. She had seen his look turn from darkness to confusion and he looked almost as if the confusion hurt him physically, but then his lips had twitched in a small smile before he turned and left to yell at someone. Since then she had not been able to hold back a smile when their eyes met, and most of the time she was rewarded with a puzzled look and the small smirk. A few times she had caught Harry looking from Snape to her with a wondering gaze, and for some reason it unnerved her. She had been sure, no one noticed the gazes between herself and Snape, and it felt as if they had a secret – though she had no idea what that secret should be. The smiles? That made absolutely no sense.

* * *

Hermione had just glanced up at the teacher's table, where Professor Snape seemed very intent on examining his breakfast closely and didn't glance up at all. She sighed and poked her grapefruit, while owls delivered the morning edition of The Daily Prophet. Hermione put her newspaper aside in order not to spray grapefruit juice over it, when suddenly the whole school seemed in uproar. People were talking, shouting and cursing left and right. Hermione looked around wondering what had happened. Then she looked at the teacher's table and saw Headmistress McGonagall who stared at her newspaper. Her face had gone ashen.

Hermione quickly shoved her grapefruit out of the way and opened her newspaper. She read the front-page headline. Then she looked around in confusion, trying to understand what she was reading. She read it again.

After McGonnagall had cancelled the first classes of the day, Hermione and the rest of Gryffindor gathered in the Gryffindor common-room.

"I don't understand this" Hermione said for the umpteenth time "The ministry can't just pass a marriage law. They can't legislate who should marry and when. It's archaic and it's against human rights, and why aren't you more upset?" She looked at Ginny.

Ginny shrugged her shoulders: "I don't know Hermione" she said "it's not so unthinkable. It has happened before, and it was to be expected. The Wizard world is different than the Muggle world. Besides it's probably going to be overturned again in a few months time, before too many have to marry."

For once in her life Hermione was speechless. Not for long though: "Ginny, how can you look at this so nonchalantly?" Hermione wanted to shake her friend, until she presented a satisfactory amount of shock and outrage.

"Harry and I were going to marry each other anyway" Ginny said "We are probably just going to go through with it a bit sooner now."

"And me?" Hermione could feel herself nearing hysterics "I don't even have a boyfriend. It says here, that every witch or wizard who is of age should marry within the next 6 months in order to produce offspring to keep the Wizard population growing. And what does this mean _Purebloods are encouraged not to marry purebloods in order to keep the birth of squibs at a minimum_? This is wrong in so many ways Ginny! And if I don't find someone to marry, the ministry will pair me up with someone suitable.."

"It will probably not be more than a year before the law is overturned and people can get their marriages annulled. I have heard my dad talk about it" Ginny said and leaned back in her chair.

An owl came flying into the common-room and dropped of a letter between Hermione and Ginny.

_Dear Misses Granger and Weasley _

_Please come to my office as quickly as possible. Bring Misters Potter, Longbottom and Weasley and Miss Lovegood. Other members of The Order of Phoenix have also been summoned._

_Sincerely _

_M. McGonagall_

_Headmistress _


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I am not to proud to beg for reviews: Please review! But more importantly: please enjoy :-)

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"There you are" McGonagall said as Hermione and her friends entered the room "I believe we are all present now".

Hermione looked around the room and saw the entire Order of Phoenix and felt her head spinning again. She had a hard enough time wrapping her mind around what this marriage law entailed, and how the ministry could even legislate forced marriages, and she had no idea what so ever, what The Order was doing here. She was however very aware of Professor Snape standing at the far end of the room talking to Kingsley.

"As you are all aware" McGonagall started speaking, and the room fell quiet immediately, "the marriage-law some of us have feared has been passed.."

"Wait" Harry interrupted "you _knew_ about this?" He looked at the headmistress in disbelief.

"We knew it was being debated" McGonagall answered, "but until this morning we had hoped it would be outvoted."

"How could you not tell us?" Hermione felt anger build up "How could you not warn us?"

"Minerva was the only one at this school who knew, it was being debated in the ministry, and I had sworn her to secrecy" Kingsley stepped in silencing both Hermione as well as Ron, Harry, Neville, Ginny and Luna who had all started talking.

"It has been debated in the ministry for some time now, but in the strictest secrecy. I only dared tell Minerva about it, so we could start planning what to do, if the law was actually passed. We had however hoped and believed it would not come to this. A marriage law has not been enforced since the 1920ies and even then, it was short lived, and the law was overruled after a few months" Kingsley explained, "but as it is, Minerva and I agree, that we have to first and foremost protect our own from harm" He looked at Hermione and her friends, who all seemed to be at a loss of words.

"Students who marry will be able to stay in school and will still be living separated in the dormitories. That means there will be no force within the marriages as long as they stay at Hogwarts. To ensure that none of you are being forced to... do anything you might not wish to do, we have come up with a plan.."

McGonagall had started explaining, but was cut of by Hermione: "Wait, no one is going to marry me off! And why the rush. We have 6 months to marry and as far as you two imply, by then the marriage-law will be declared null and void! I say, we just give it time." Ron, Harry, Neville and Luna all agreed loudly with Hermione, while elder order-members started debating the best course of action.

McGonagall sighed, raised her hand to silence the room and looked at Kingsley, who cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable, before he spoke up:"While the idea of waiting has passed our minds, there is another complication, that makes immediate marriage in order to protect you important." He started pacing the room, while he talked "you have to understand, that the ministry is divided into three groups. Two extremes and a middle group that seems undecided. For now, the fraction holding pro marriage-law views have swayed most of the undecided members to vote in favour of the marriage law. The opposition fights to have it annulled, but at the same time, the pro-marriagelaw fraction is moving fast. We have reason to believe, that the marriage law will be altered for the worse within the next 14 days.."

"Altered for the worse? How is that even possible?" Hermione was fuming with anger and fear.

"Because" McGonagall jumped in "as the law is now, the ministry will not be monitoring marital... _activities_" She looked at the group of young people "but Kingsley has someone on the inside of the pro-marriagelaw fraction, who has provided us with a document stating that it is their goal to alter the law so it entails magically enhanced wedding rings, making it possible for the ministry to not only demand marital activities twice a week, but also to monitor whether the married couples fulfil their marital duties. This alteration to the law is going to be enforced within the next 14 days."

The room practically roared with outrage. Kingsley stepped forward again and called everyone to silence before continuing: "Therein lies our only chance to protect our unmarried ordermembers, not just from The Order of Phoenix but also from Dumbledore's Army. The alteration of the law can not be made retroactively. If you marry now, before the alterations, we can marry you off to other order-members, who will let you live your lives without forcing you to... ahm... fulfil marital duties, while we work to have the marriage-law annulled. But once the alteration is enforced, we can not protect you from having to go through with..." Kingsley's voice trailed off, and he looked like a defeated man.

The room was quiet for a while, before Hermione heard herself say:"Then we have to marry immediately or risk being forced into a marriage and practically raped in the name of the law?"

One hour later the room seemed to quiet down in some sort of resignation, and people were being paired up. Some of the pairing up went more smoothly than others. Harry and Ginny were being paired up for marriage first, and for a moment Hermione almost forgot her own distress, as she saw the disappointment in Ginny's face, as she realized the marriage would not mean they would have sex. Hermione knew of Ginny's growing frustration with Harry's insisting on doing things the old-fashioned way, and not having sex before they were married. As Hermione laughed to herself, she suddenly understood why Ginny had taken the news about the marriage-law so easy, and she almost felt sorry for her friend, when Ginny realized, she would still be living in the girls-dormitory after marrying Harry, and not get a chance to finally bed him.

"I'll marry Hermione! We were meant for each other anyway, and we could stay together even after the law is annulled" Hermione's head whipped up, as she suddenly heard Ron shouting through the room, as if he was calling "dibs". Her eyes shortly met Snape's eyes, but he seemed indifferent to the whole commotion and broke eye-contact with a disdainful smirk.

"Hell, I'll even let her take her time planning the wedding of her dreams" Ron rambled on "I don't care if we have to wear the special wedding rings"

Hermione gasped, but before she could say anything McGonagall interfered "**That** Mr. Weasley shows us exactly why you will not be paired up with Miss Granger!" Ron started arguing, until Hermione finally regained her senses:

"Stop it Ron!" She shouted at him "have you gone _insane_? How can you think, I will marry you and submit to having sex with you, whenever you and the ministry want me to? Are you serious? Give me time to plan my dream wedding? As if you had not just made it abundantly clear, that is just an excuse to get the enhanced wedding ring on my finger! What am I supposed to be? Your slave?" Hermione had walked over to Ron, standing in front of him and by now she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She could not believe his audacity.

Ron looked stunned but then an understanding smile spread across his face:"Aw, come on Mione" he tried to sneak a hand around her waist and pull her close "we all know that you and I are going to end up together anyway, but I am sorry I embarrassed you by being so outspoken in front of the others." He leaned in for a kiss.

* * *

"There you go dear" McGonagall summoned an icepack for Hermione's hand. Harry had accompanied Ron to the hospital wing to have Madam Pomfrey mend his broken nose. McGonagall smiled almost cunningly "I have decided it would be best to pair up Mr. Weasley with Miss Brown, as it seems he has no problem with obsessiveness". Hermione looked up and laughed out in surprise: "Professor!" she exclaimed in mock outrage. By now most people had left McGonagall's office.

"Minerva" Kingsley stepped closer to McGonagall and Hermione "We still have to pair up Hermione as quickly as possible or.." McGonagall closed her eyes briefly and then straightened her back. "Yes, well what do you suggest we do Kingsley? The other students from The Order are paired up, we have plans for everyone from DA so unless we are willing to take the risk and pair Miss Granger up with a student outside of The Order, there are only yourself and Severus left"

Snape jumped up from the chair in which he had been sitting watching the pairing. The Potter boy and the Granger girl. The no-good Neville with the weird Lovegood and so on. He had not really cared until the Weasley boy had started his inappropriate rant, clearly displaying that he had not understood, this was not a question of how he could satisfy his hormonal teenage needs, but of outsmarting the ministry without harming each other. He had wanted to strangle the boy. He told himself over and over, he had been angry because of the boy's lack of respect and intelligence, it had nothing to do with Miss Granger. When she had hit the smug boy, Snape had had a weird feeling of wanting to protect her and applaud her at the same time. Afterwards he had sat in the chair and taking care of looking as if none of this interested him, while keeping an eye on Miss Granger, when he had suddenly heard Kingsley's outrageous comment.

That was when he jumped up: "Have you gone insane Kingsley? The child can not be married of to either of us, it is out of the question!"

"Severus" Minerva had let go of Hermione's throbbing hand and walked to stand between Snape and Kingsley. "Kingsley is right, and you know it. It is to risky to marry her of to someone outside of the order. What if it takes us longer than expected to overthrow the law? Come summer she finishes school, and is no longer protected by the gender separation of the dormitories. Severus, it has to be one of you two, it's the only way to ensure that Miss Granger will not be forced to do something, she does not want to. The two of you would know that this would just be a marriage by name, a protective measure, and would not force yourselves on her. We can not be sure, that anyone outside of the order would do the same."

Hermione sat in shocked silence and looked between McGonagall, Snape and Kingsley in disbelief. Why did no one even ask her opinion? How could they just talk about this, as if she had no say. She knew McGonagall was right but still, how could they just ignore her like this while discussing her future? She was about to protest, when she heard Snape go on.

"In that case it will have to be you Kingsley. There is no way I am marrying that child, even in a temporary sham marriage. There is no way!" Snape headed for the door, when McGonagall's voice stopped him:

"Severus! You are forgetting two things. For one you are forgetting that should Miss Granger marry Kingsley, the ministry would expect her to leave school and live with him. Otherwise it is in the ministry's power to declare the marriage not valid" she looked sternly at Snape "which brings me to the second point. You know as well as I, that no one would believe a marriage between Kingsley and a female to be legit. He has never made a secret out of it, and the ministry would never accept the marriage. It has to be you Severus, there is no other way. This marriage would protect you as well, you know. You are also affected by the marriage-law"

Snape took a step closer to McGonagall. "And how would you know, that it would be a problem for me to marry someone in due time? Why should I not choose whom ever I want? Why should I be forced to marry this.. this _child_?" He put as much contempt in his voice as possible, when he said the last part, and Hermione cringed. His adamant objections made her angry. How dare he keep referring to her as a child! She had not been a child when she had sat by his hospital bed night after night. She had not been a child when she had fought in the war. She had not been a child for a long time, and he had definitely not thought of her as a child when he had kissed her. And who was the other woman, he was obviously considering marrying?

Hermione stood up and put the icepack on a near by table, then she looked at McGonagall and Kingsley before she coldly locked eyes with Snape. "Don't worry Professor Snape" she said, mimicking his contempt to hide the sting of hurt his words caused "I would never dream of accepting a marriage that would separate you from another woman and bind you to someone, you have always considered a child" At least he looked ashamed as she said the last part, Hermione noticed. Then she turned to leave, but Kingsley held her by her arm to stop her.

"Severus" he said "you know, you must do this. And Miss Granger if you are as intelligent as I think you to be, you know this as well. It is the only way."

Hermione looked up and locked eyes with Snape. Then she bowed her head and nodded. She knew Kingsley was right, and she was pretty sure Snape knew it as well. She just wished the thought of posing as her husband did not disgust him quite so much as it apparently did.

"If I must marry the child, rooms will have to be added to my rooms. There is no way the ministry would ever believe, I would marry her and still let her live in the dormitory. I am after all not a teenage boy. But there is no way she is sharing my rooms with me. I don't want her in my personal space Minerva" Snape's voice sounded cold and devoid of any emotion or hope as he continued "you will have to magically enlarge my living conditions to include a bedroom and a bathroom for Miss Granger."

"I will do that immediately Severus" McGonagall said, reaching a hand out as to pat him reassuringly on the shoulder, but before she could do so, he turned and looked at Kingsley.

"And you!" he snarled at Kingsley, as if he was to blame for the situation "you are also expected to marry. The law also concerns you. If I am to do this, you are going to marry my godson, and protect him the same way I am supposed to protect this child. You will have to do it before the law is changed and makes it illegal for you to marry Draco"

Kingsley bowed his head and nodded. "I shall talk to the boy, Severus. If he agrees, I shall protect him". Hermione's stomach twisted into a tight ball. Draco would get a choice. Harry and Ginny had gotten what they wanted. Neville, Luna, Ron and all the others would have a small ceremony and then go back to their dormitories and continue life as if nothing had happened, and she would have to move into an apartment at school and share it with a man who was clearly disgusted by the mere idea of her presence. She sighed and bit back tears.

"Very well" she heard Snape say in that lifeless voice "then we should get it over with as soon as possible, before we find ourselves with even worse demands from the ministry. I trust you will be able to have Miss Granger's rooms ready by tomorrow afternoon Minerva?" "Of course Severus" McGonagall answered "you are doing the right th.." Snape cut her of: "I expect the marriage ceremony to take place tomorrow afternoon then. Have your things packed and be here to get it over with by three o'clock Miss Granger. Don't be late." He didn't look at Hermione as he said this, and she had to bite her lower lip not to cry. Then he left the room, and Hermione said goodbye to McGonagall and Kingsley before heading for the Gryffindor commonroom. Before she arrived she stopped at an alcove in the hallway, sat down and started crying.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: Thank you for your reviews, they really keep the muses alive! This chapter is a bit longer than the other those of you who wrote me about wanting lemons: there will be lemons later on. I had no definite plan for the story, when I started writing and as it turns out, it is longer than I had anticipated, and it moves on slowly. To sum up: there will be lemons eventually, but not yet :-)I hope you enjoy the read and please review.

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Hermione pinched her eyes together and tried to will herself back to sleep. Yesterday had been awful, and she could not bear to think about, what today would be like. Before she had retired to her room yesterday, she had gone to the Gryffindor common room and had told Harry and Ginny about her upcoming marriage. Ron had still been in the hospital wing and would not return to his dormitory before later today. Ginny had been shocked, when she heard the news, but Harry had been hard to read. He had nodded a little, then he had hugged Hermione and told her, everything would be all right. Hermione had gone to her room and had cried herself to sleep.

Today she was meant to go shopping for dresses with Ginny and Luna before the afternoon marriages. There were going to be quite a few marriages today and even more tomorrow. Hermione had skipped breakfast and instead had packed her things. She had not thought about shopping for a dress, until McGonagall's letter had reached her, informing her and the others that they anticipated the ministry to try and prove fraud, and that everything had to look as real as possible. There would be taken pictures at the ceremonies to have visual proof, should the marriages be challenged. Up until then it had just seemed needles to put to much effort into the wedding, after all it wasn't a real marriage. Hermione quickly finished up in her room and left in order to avoid Ron before she headed for Hogsmeade.

After Hermione and Luna had helped Ginny pick out a wedding dress, that in Hermione's opinion made her look more like a meringue than a bride, they went to another shop to find a dress for Hermione.

"Why don't you want a traditional wedding dress?" Ginny asked for the umpteenth time. Hermione sighed: "Because it is not a traditional wedding." Luna took Hermione's hand and walked into the dress shop with her, while she looked over her shoulder at Ginny and said "I'm not getting married in a traditional dress either Ginny. I'm getting married in my mothers weddingdress, which is made out of beautiful red cabbage leaves and daisies. Of course it is charmed, so everything is still as fresh as when the dress was made. It brings luck, health and keeps away mumfenpumps." Hermione discretely shook her head, when she saw Ginny opening her mouth with a questioning look on her face. There was no need to spend time listening to an explanation from Luna about what mumfenpumps were. They were probably similar to snarls or loomplins or some other creature no one but Luna and her family believed in anyway.

"I don't know, if I will be able to find a good enough dress in time" Hermione told her friends, even before the store clerk had reached them. Then she turned around and saw the perfect dress on a dummy in the middle of the room. It was a simple form fitted ivory dress that reached the floor, but around the waist it had a wide, black lace sash and a matching wide lace part for the neck. It covered a part of her neck and dipped down in the front almost like expensive jewellery. She walked over to it and let her fingers run over the dress, then she went to try it on. As she looked at herself in the mirror and heard Ginny and Luna swoon over the dress, she choked up as she realized, this would be the perfect dress for her dream wedding, but instead she would wear it, when she married a man, who apparently could not stand the idea of being married to her - not even in a sham marriage. The perfect dress also reminded her of another reason, why the marriage later today would be anything but perfect. Her parents would not be there to witness it. The obliviate spell, she had performed on them before the war, was non-reversible; they had no idea she existed. Hermione bit back the tears, as she told the store-clerk to send the bill to Professor Snape. In the letter she had received from McGonagall this morning, it had said to do so, as Snape wished to take care of the wedding expenses, and that Hermione should feel free to choose any dress she liked. Probably a part of proving to the ministry that the marriage was legit, Hermione thought, as she left the store.

* * *

Hermione was standing outside of the room of requirement, which today served as a chapel. The first three couples had already been married, and right now she was waiting for Neville and Luna to come out as husband and wife. She had handed Ginny and Harry some rice to throw at the couple, and while Ginny had a hard time grasping the idea of the rice-throwing, Harry had agreed, that Luna would probably love this particular muggle tradition whether she understood it or not. Hermione kept a fake smile while she gave some rice to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley as well. They had come for their daughter's wedding. Ron had yet to show up and was not supposed to get married before tomorrow, but the rest of Ginny's brothers were there.

"Ron!" she heard Mrs. Weasley yell out, as he turned around the corner "what happened to you?" Hermione looked at him, but he refused to meet her eyes. Apparently while Mrs. Pomfrey had mended the broken nose, it had not been possible to make the black and blue discolourations around his eyes, that the broken nose had caused, disappear.

The Weasleys started asking him questions all at once, and Harry whispered something in George's ear. George laughed out loud: "Hermione broke your nose? You got beat up by a girl"

Everybody looked at Hermione in shock.

"I did not get beat up by Hermione!" Ron hissed. Then Harry whispered something else in George's ear, and Gorge suddenly looked ready to commit murder. He walked over and put his arm around Hermione, while he looked at his younger brother in contempt: "Oh really? You just ran into her fist then? Well as I understand it serves you well." As the others started asking questions, he raised his hand: "this is not the time nor the place, but I am sure Ron will have some explaining to do later." Then he looked at Hermione and hugged her reassuringly, with the arm he had draped around her shoulder:"Has anyone told you, how beautiful you look? I swear, if I was not already married.."

"Please get your hands of my fiancé" a voice snarled as Snape walked around the corner. Out of sheer habit when hearing Snape's voice, George jumped and let go of Hermione, who turned around to look at him. As she turned around Snape stopped for a moment and looked frozen. Then his face went blank, and he turned to great Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

Snape had to direct all of his energy to keeping a neutral expression. He reminded himself, that he was about to marry the girl in order to protect her. "Oh, but she is the most beautiful woman, I have ever seen" he thought briefly, before regaining control of his thoughts. He shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with the oldest Weasleys, while his mind kept returning to the young witch he was about to marry. Out of the corner of his eye he could see, she looked crestfallen and kept her eyes at him.

Hermione fought hard not to cry. Snape had obviously seen her, he had told George to let her go but had not acknowledged her presence otherwise. He had not greeted her or even looked at her. She watched him greet Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and she felt as if her heart had been replaced with a black pit. Suddenly she heard Ron yelling:

"Snape? You are going to marry Snape?" Everyone looked at Ron who now stood in front of Hermione with a look of disgust and fury. "I get a broken nose, and you go on to marry that greasy git? That old bat?" Hermione vaguely registered Mrs. Weasley gasping.

"Fine" Ron continued "Have it your way. Go be his little whore." Then everything seemed to happen at once. Ron pushed Hermione. Harry caught her before she fell and Ron was pressed up against the wall by Snape, who had one hand around his throat and the other holding his wand out and pressed against Ron's face.

"You put your hand on her again, and I swear, it is going to be the last thing you do" Snape hissed, annunciating every syllable very slowly and making it very clear he was controlling an otherwise uncontrollable rage. Mr. Weasley put his hand on Snape's shoulder: "Severus, please let the boy go. Trust me, I will deal with him".

Snape slowly let Ron go and Mr. Weasley yanked his boy down the hall and around the corner. At that time the doors to the room of requirement burst open and a happy Neville and Luna came out, followed by their families. Hermione threw rice in the air above them and the rest followed suit showering the couple in rice, much to Neville's astonishment and Luna's delight.

After congratulations had been said, Mrs. McGonagall called Ginny and Harry into the room. Mr. Weasley had returned without Ron and the family followed the couple into the room. As the doors closed the only ones left in the hallway were Hermione and Snape. Hermione wished wizard's marriages were more like muggle marriages, so she would have been allowed to come with them and perhaps even be a bridesmaid. But wizard marriages were different. During the ceremony only the closest family members were present. Everybody entered the room at the same time, the bride did not have her walk up the aisle, there were no vows but only the formal ceremony. The wizard or witch performing the ceremony said a few words, asked a few questions and that was it.

The silence in the hallway was massive and Hermione shifted nervously not knowing what to do or say. She bit her lip and tried not to cry, but a single tear escaped, and she quickly brushed it away.

"Miss Granger" she heard Snape say "are you hurt? Did that boy hurt you?"

Hermione looked up at Snape, who had taken a step towards her and for the first time today looked directly at her. Hermione shook her head unable to speak.

Snape didn't know what came over him. He had been determined to keep a maximum distance to the witch, but suddenly they were standing alone waiting for their turn to be married, and she looked so beautiful and full of sorrow. He had been surprised to see, she had not chosen a traditional wedding dress. But the dress she wore, the way her hair had been done and the discrete make-up made her look so beautiful, he had a hard time breathing, when he looked at her. So he had not looked at her. He had kept his gaze averted, but still kept her in his peripheral sight. When he saw her brush away a tear, he had first thought, the boy had hurt her. How he wanted to hurt that imbecile. He didn't even want to hex him, he wanted to feel the satisfaction of physically hurting him. When he had asked her, she had shaken her head and he could see, she was fighting back tears. He felt as if he had been dragged into a dark place, as he reminded himself, she must be dreading marrying him. He wanted to assure her, that he would honour his responsibility to keep her safe. That she would be left alone, have her own rooms and not have to see him more than necessary. He took a step forward and put his hand on her cheek, lifting her head up so he could look her in the eye. Her eyes were brimming with tears and she was the most beautiful thing, he had ever seen.

"Hermione.." he said.

Hermione felt his hand on her cheek and heard him say her name. It sounded sweet and almost painful. She wanted him to hold her and comfort her, but she didn't know how to ask him to do so, and she was pretty sure, he wouldn't want to anyway.

"It's just a lot at once" she heard herself say "I found this beautiful dress and it reminded me how this is not a real marriage, how nothing is how it is supposed to be. My parents aren't even here and.." before she could finish, the doors opened and Ginny and Harry came out followed by the Weasleys. Snape jumped away from Hermione as if he had been burned, and Hermione felt alone and cold, as she forced herself to smile at the happy couple. They hugged Hermione and were about to leave, when McGonagall called Snape and Hermione's names. Hermione braced herself, but before she could enter the room, she heard Snape's voice:

"Just a minute Minerva, we are not quite ready." Hermione stopped and looked at him, but he was looking in Harry's direction:

"Mr. Potter" he said "A word?"

Harry turned to them and looked baffled but nodded and let Snape drag him down the hall. Hermione looked at McGonagall, who shrugged her shoulders as to say, she had no idea, what was going on. Within a few minutes Snape returned followed by a smiling Harry. Hermione looked from Harry to Snape in confusion, as Snape walked by her, took a hold of McGonagall's arm and walked into the room of requirement with her. He closed the door behind him and left Harry and Hermione in the hallway.

"Harry, what...?" Hermione looked at Harry who smiled lovingly at her. "Snape asked me to give you away, since your father can't be here" Harry said "I keep forgetting, he grew up in a muggle home and knows muggle traditions"

Hermione's jaw dropped and she felt tears filling her eyes again, but this time they were tears of gratitude towards the man, who even though he had made it abundantly clear, he did not want this marriage, for some reason seemed to be trying to give her something as close to her dream wedding as possible.

The doors to the room of requirement burst open, and Hermione saw the room had changed from what she had glimpsed when the others walked in and out. This time white orchids strewn on the floor formed an aisle up to where Snape stood waiting for her. The room was filled with floating candles, and she heard a piano playing the muggle wedding music. Hermione felt her heart almost overflow and looked at Snape, while Harry walked her down the aisle. She had never before noticed how handsome he looked, and as their eyes met she noticed, he almost looked emotional and something in his eyes made her heart flutter. As she reached the place where he stood, Harry kissed her cheek and stepped to stand behind her, as Snape took her hand.

"You look beautiful beyond words" Snape whispered before they turned to face McGonagall, and Hermione forgot that this was not a real wedding.

Hermione went through the rest of the ceremony in a haze. Before she knew it, Snape placed a beautiful red-gold ring with a ruby on her finger. McGonagall handed her a simple but somewhat wider red-gold wedding band, and she placed it on Snape's finger. Then she heard McGonagall say: "You may now kiss the bride" and Snape stiffened for a second, before giving her a quick peck on the lips. A second later a light from a camera flashed.

"Honestly Severus" McGonagall chastised "you know we need a picture of you as a happy couple. You have to be able to do better than that! We didn't even get a picture of it. Now let's try again, and please behave as newly-weds. The wedding between the two of you is one of the most likely ones to be questioned."

Snape looked aghast as the weeding photographer, whom Hermione recognized as one of the more recent members of the order, took up position and McGonagall repeated: "You may now kiss the bride."

Snape had dreaded the kiss and had tried to get it over with as quickly as possible. He had not been able to keep his eyes of Hermione for the entire ceremony and had fought hard to keep his thoughts and emotions under control. He had reminded himself time and again, this was not a real wedding. He didn't know why he had gone through with the alterations, but she had looked so sad out in the hallway, and he had wanted to make it easier for her by giving her something akin to the wedding she should have had instead of this farce. But something inside him had also wanted to pretend, even if for just a moment, that this was real, and in a moment of weakness he had almost allowed the impossible dream. The kiss would make it almost impossible to cling on to reality and to remember, this was not a real wedding and the beautiful creature beside him was not going to be his loving wife. He had reminded himself that this wedding was in fact a young girl being forced into the worst of all possible marriages, and it served as a reminder to him, of what he would never have. With that in mind he had briefly planted the obligatory peck on the young witch's lips.

Now he had to repeat it, and everything inside of him was in turmoil, as he slowly bent his head towards her and touched her soft lips with his. He wanted to draw back as he heard the photographer yell:

"Good, good... that's much better. Keep it there for a minute, I need a few more pictures". Then he felt her lips move ever so softly against his, and he lost hold of where he was and what he didn't want to feel, and he slipped his arms around her, holding her closer, breathing her in, falling to pieces on the inside.

Hermione had been woken from her haze by the quick peck on her lips from Snape, but before she could feel the disappointment settle, McGonagall had intervened and suddenly she had felt his lips on her again but this time in the softest caress. Her heart had stood still while she felt light and safe and she moved her lips against his, wanting to prolong the kiss. She felt him respond and as his arms slid around her in an embrace, she felt her knees go weak and placed her hands on his chest to steady herself, while she felt a warming glow burn from deep within her. Just as she thought, she might pass out, she heard Harry clear his throat and she looked up at Snape, who suddenly jumped back. For a second she thought she saw something burning in his eyes, but then it was gone.

"I trust. You've got what you wanted" he said to McGonagall, before he grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her out of the room.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you all for your kind reviews. I am overwhelmed an grateful for the responses to my story. They make me want to continue writing. I love my reviews and I love you all for writing them!**

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As soon as they left the room of requirement, he let go of her hand and walked towards the dungeons. Hermione followed him, not knowing what else to do. She felt the loss of contact almost as a physical blow, and her head was spinning from the abrupt change between the loveliness of the ceremony and now. "It's the change between dream and reality" she thought and tried to keep up with him while trying to ignore the feeling of emptiness, that spread through her.

Snape walked briskly towards his rooms while he chastised himself. What on earth had he been thinking? He knew he had tried to make the ceremony bearable for the Granger-girl, but why he had cared to go through the trouble of doing so, he did not know. He was no fool, he thought to himself, he knew the girl had to be terrified at the thought of being forced into marriage with him, no matter how short-lived the marriage would be.

"Oh but you are a fool" he thought "you lost yourself in that damned kiss as if you were a teenager".

He walked quicker as if to outrun his own thoughts, when he noticed the girl trying to keep up with him and failing miserably in her high-heeled shoes. He stopped and glared at her. The glare gave him the opportunity to once again take in the sight of her, while she came towards him. A few curls had become untangled and framed her face. The dress was showing just enough to let him know, how her body curved at the right places and the lace-band around her neck looked both innocent and enticing, the way it covered skin that would surely be sensitive, the way it dipped down towards her breasts. The strapless dress drew attention to her bare shoulders and her chest's lifting and dropping when she breathed.

He quickly gained control of his thoughts as she came to stand in front of him, and he gestured for her to follow him, while he walked on at a more relaxed pace, all the time berating himself for his thoughts and feelings. "No," he corrected himself "just thoughts. Although those are inappropriate enough".

As they arrived at his chambers, he said the password loud enough for Hermione to hear it and stepped aside to allow her to enter the room first.

"This is where you will be living while we wait for the annulment" he said, and for a brief moment he noticed she looked almost sad. "Of course she is sad" he thought "she has to live down in the dungeons with her old professor for an unknown period of time. How could she not be sad?"

Hermione entered what seemed to be the living room of her new shared quarters. She was curious to see how Snape lived and essentially how she would live. But before she had even taken in the living room, he had reminded her that her presence was only tolerated, and that he was waiting anxiously for the marriage to be annulled. Hermione felt a sting of disappointment. "What did you expect?" she thought to herself "he was nice enough to go on with your childish dream in the chapel. Did you expect him to carry you over the threshold and pretend to be your loving husband? Of course he can't wait for the annulment, so he can get his life back. He finally had no master telling him what to do, and before he had time to enjoy it, he was forced by obligation to The Order to marry a student that had always annoyed him". Hermione tried to shove away her disappointment and straightened her back, while Snape started showing her around.

She looked around the living room and was surprised at his taste. The room was cosy but she had expected dark colours and heavy furniture. Instead the room was kept mainly black and white. The white walls seemed to be opening the space and the black furniture was a mixture of streamlined, almost sculptural functionalism and soft materials. There was a big dining table in one end and a huge sofa in front of the fireplace. The walls were covered with books, and Hermione couldn't wait to have a look at them, but Snape walked her into the kitchen, which was also streamlined but the black and white colours were interrupted by a few red appliances.. muggle appliances. Hermione remembered Harry's words about Snape growing up in a muggle home, and for some reason the look of something so familiar as muggle kitchen appliances made her feel more at home. The kitchen had a white oval table and white stools in a design that made it look light and modern. They walked back through the living room and Snape opened a door.

"This is my private lab" he said "I trust you will not use it without my permission". Hermione nodded and felt a heavy feeling enveloping her, as she heard his cold tone of voice.

He walked over to open another door and she looked into a room containing a big bed made perfectly with almost military precision. The room also contained bookcases filled with books, a night stand and a closet. She could see a door and assumed it must lead to a bathroom. In one corner of the room stood an old armchair. It was huge and the worn dark green velvet made it look completely out of place. Next to it stood a very modern lamp and a small table containing several books.

Hermione's eyes drifted back to his night stand, and she almost gasped out loud. There was a red velvet box on his night stand. She suddenly felt a flutter of butterflies in her stomach.

"This is my room" Snape interrupted her thoughts "you will not need to enter it at any time. If I am in here, and you need to talk to me, I expect you will knock and wait for me to come out. I expect you will respect my privacy, and I will do the same for you"

With that he turned back to the living room and opened the door to another room. He stayed at the threshold while holding the door open with one hand. "These are your rooms" he said. Hermione walked through the room amazed. The room was kept in white and gold and the white carpet was so thick and soft, she could feel how she sunk down into it a little, when she walked on it. The bed was big and looked soft. It didn't have the streamlined look but looked more romantic. There was a bed stand and a table with what seemed to be a comfortable chair. Crookshanks was laying on a big pillow on the floor and Hermione smiled at the cat, while she walked over to a door and walked into her new bathroom. She gasped. Snape had obviously not spared any expenses. The bathroom was mainly white, but a few orchids on the floor made it look romantic. There was a big old-fashioned bathtub on golden legs and a more modern shower with ocean blue tiles and a wall of frosted glass bricks surrounding the shower area. Hermione walked out to find Snape still standing at the threshold to her room. She wanted to thank him but before she could, he nodded at a second door in her room: "I have made sure you have enough space for your girlish things" he said with indifference.

Hermione curiously walked over to the door, opened it and walked in. All of her clothes were here, in what turned out to be a walk-in closet with a dressing table and a big comfortable chair. Hermione squealed in delight, and without any thought she ran out and threw her arms around Snape. She pressed her face against his chest and hugged him. "Thank you so much" she said.

Snape was taken aback when the girl came flying towards him and wrapped her arms around him. He stood still while she snuggled her face to his chest and thanked him. Then he slowly wrapped his arms around her. "You are welcome" he whispered in her hair. Still without being able to form a coherent thought Hermione drew her hands to his front and rested them on his chest, while she looked up at him. Snape looked down into her eyes and slowly lowered his head, until his lips met hers. She instinctively stood on her toes to gain better access, and as she moved her lips against his and buried her hands in his hair, he let one hand slide up her back to hold the back of her head, while he opened his mouth against hers. Hermione gasped in surprise and delight and as she did, she opened her mouth a little against his. Snape deepened the kiss and let his tongue slip in entwining it with hers. Hermione felt her body tingle at the touch of his tongue on hers and suddenly the kiss heated up as he moved his head to deepen the kiss even further. He pressed her body against his as he kept loosening and deepening the kiss, while his hands franticly started roaming her back and burying in her hair. Hermione moaned, and at the sound Snape snapped back into reality and let go of her. He took a step back and composed himself. "Yes, well..." he said and turned to go back into the living room.

Hermione felt confused and drained. The day had seemed to be a roller coaster of emotions, and she didn't have strength left to think about what had just happened. She walked into the living room and stood facing Snape in awkward silence for a while.

Suddenly Snape cleared his throat. "I am sorry Miss Granger, I guess today was a bit much, and I let myself get carried away. I hope you will accept my apologies." Hermione looked at him, her lips still tingling from his kiss. She touched her fingers to her lips and looked down.

Snape desperately wanted a whiskey. He had again forced himself on the young witch. "Oh but she seemed to like it" a voice inside of him said. He pushed it away and reminded himself, how confused she must be. She was so young and beautiful, and he had taken advantage of that. He loathed himself. He apologized to her, and saw her touch her lips and look down. He could only imagine how repulsed she must feel. Then he heard her whisper:

"It's actually Mrs Snape now"

"Pardon?" Snape asked, not getting the repulsed response he had been expecting.

"It's not Miss Granger any more" Hermione said and gave him a small almost apologetic smile.

"Ah no, I suppose it is not" Snape said.

Hermione moved towards him, and he walked in the opposite direction putting the dining table between them. He gestured with his hand for her to sit down. "You must be hungry" he said and waited for her to sit down before taking a seat himself. As soon as they sat down at the table, food appeared, and they sat in awkward silence for a long time while moving food around on their plates and trying not to look at each other.

"Would you prefer me to still call you Professor Snape or just Snape?" Hermione asked, not being able to sit in silence any more.

Snape looked up from his plate, then he poured himself another glass of wine. He looked at where Hermione sat and noticed her setting didn't have a wineglass – probably because she was still a student. He conjured a wine glass for her, walked around the table with the bottle and filled her glass. Then he walked back and sat down in front of her again. It had bought him time to gather his thoughts.

"I suppose you can call me Snape or even Severus as long as we are married" he said.

"And what about in class?" Hermione asked.

"You will no longer be in my class" Snape said. "You were absolved from the class when we got engaged yesterday."

"But my exams?" Hermione felt sad, but she didn't know exactly why.

"You will have the opportunity to train in the DADA classroom when it is not used for teaching and will be examined by another professor by the end of the year."

"Oh" Hermione said, and once again they sat in silence. Hermione picked at her food and Snape stole a few glances at her. She looked dishevelled but if possible even more beautiful, as she sat there in her pretty dress, he thought.

"Would you like dessert?" Snape asked

"Thank you, but I am actually quite tired" Hermione said and stood up. Snape stood up as well, and they both looked everywhere but at each other. Finally Hermione said: "Thank you for doing everything you did today. It made the day much easier for me"

"Yes, well.." Snape said "you are welcome".

Before Hermione reached her room, she heard Snape call out "Granger". She stopped, and he came over to her handing her a velvet box. Hermione looked at him in surprise.

"In the wizard world it is custom to present the bride with a piece of jewellery at the night of the wedding" he explained.

"Oh" Hermione didn't know what to say. She opened the box and found a gold necklace. Attached to it was a red-gold pendant, shaped like a tiny Easter-egg with engravings matching the ones from Hermione's letter. Hermione looked at it in amazement and carefully took it out of the box. "Would you help me?" she asked, her voice shaking with emotion. Snape looked almost afraid, then he took the necklace and Hermione turned around. She closed her eyes, when she felt his hands flutter against the skin on her neck, as he fastened the necklace. Her eyes were burning with tears under her closed eyelids.

"Why is he being so nice to me?" she thought. "Of all the people he could be forced to marry, he had to marry me. The one who abandoned him and left him for dead." Hermione bit down on her bottom lip and thought how disappointed he must be, and briefly she wondered, what it would feel like, to have a man like Snape love you.

When he had fastened the necklace he let his hands drop to her shoulders, and Hermione turned around and lifted her tear-rimmed eyes to his. "Thank you" she whispered and lifted her hand to touch the pendant. "That was so thoughtful of you".

Snape saw the tears in her eyes and felt bad for her. Once again he had managed to remind her, that she was bound to him and not to a young lover. Of course the girl was sad. But suddenly he also felt annoyed. It was not as if he had had a choice in the matter, and honestly he had bent over backwards to soften the blow for the young witch. He would have to stand the ridicule and the accusations of the world around them, who would deem him an old pig lusting over his young student, seducing her into marriage. Once again he would have to let the world think, he was the worst scum. And the worst part was, that this time they would be right. He had already forced himself on the girl and behaved as an out of control, hormonal teenager. But could the girl not give him a little credit for trying? Could she not at least see, that he was also forced into this charade? Could she not do her best to look less tempting and not so sad and disappointed all the time?

Snape dropped his hands from her shoulders, when she whispered her thanks, and stepped back to create a safe distance between them.

"Well" he said "as I told you, it is expected, and we wouldn't want to give the ministry reason to doubt this marriage."

He turned around and walked to his bedroom, closing the door hard behind him and leaving Hermione to feel stupid and naïve. Of course he had not done this for her, she thought as she closed the door to her beautiful and lonely rooms. Of course he had done it, because he had to, in order to live up to the farce that was their marriage. He had done it to convince the ministry. Hermione felt the tears starting to fall as she slipped out of her dress and got ready for bed. She cried herself into exhaustion and after a while fell asleep.

Snape poured himself another whiskey and gulped it down. He was well on his way to silencing the thoughts, that had kept him awake for half the night, with alcohol. He looked at the watch, he had put on his nightstand, and sighed. It was a quarter past two. He filled his glass again, but suddenly he heard a scream from Hermione's room. It sounded as if a soul was being ripped apart. He jumped out of bed and rushed to her room, threw the door open and stormed in, wand in hand, ready to kill who ever was attacking her. He stopped in the middle of the room and looked at the crying witch. She was clearly sleeping. It looked as if she was having a nightmare, and he walked over to her bed on unsteady legs. Now that he knew she was not in mortal danger, he became aware that he was not entirely sober. He turned to leave, when he heard her scream his name. "Professor Snape" she cried "I'm so sorry. Please don't die. Oh god, I am so sorry, please come back. Don't die" she thrashed in her bed and Snape later blamed the alcohol for making him walk over and sit on the bed next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her, calling her name. "Miss Granger, wake up" he tried again but without luck. He grabbed both of her shoulders and shook her a little harder: "Hermione" he said, lifting her upper body from the bed "Hermione, you are having a nightmare."

Hermione gasped and her eyes snapped open. She looked around confused and with fear written clearly on her face. Snape could almost physically feel her anxiety, as she managed to focus her eyes on his. "Snape" she exhaled and threw herself at him. In his intoxicated state he closed his arms around her, and tried to calm her down.

"Thank god you are alive" Hermione buried her face at the curve of his neck and kept repeating "you're alive", "please don't die" and "I'm so sorry" over and over again. Snape held her tight and shivered as he felt her breath on his neck, every time she spoke. She clung to him and he could feel her tears on his skin. He stroked her hair trying to calm her down.

"Shhh" he repeated again and again "it was only a dream. I'm right here" but Hermione didn't seem to hear him. She tightened her grip on him and started planting open mouthed kisses on his neck, while still repeating her pleas and apologies. Snape moaned, and buried his hand in her hair pulling slightly, trying to pull her gently away from him.

"Hermione" he rasped "Stop."

Hermione started kissing his jaw in a frenzy, as if to assure herself, he was in fact not dead. Snape tried to remain unaffected, but took a deep hissing breath, when he again tried to pry the woman in his arms away.

"Hermione, you have to stop. Look at me. You have to stop"

Hermione started kissing her way down his torso, tears still falling and Snape not only got very aware, that he was only wearing pyjama bottoms, but also that he had grown almost painfully hard. He took a hold of Hermione's shoulders and pulled her up. "Look at me Hermione!" he growled and as he pulled her up, she drew her hands along his upper body. It felt like velvet and fire on his skin. As she looked into his eyes, she took a deep breath and stopped every movement except for her breathing. Their noses almost touching, the strand of hair that fell in Hermione's face blew into Snape's, every time she exhaled. For a moment they looked at each other, then Snape's hands tightened on Hermione's shoulders and he crashed his lips down on hers. He kissed her feverishly and she moaned as he pushed her down on the bed. She tangled her hands in his hair and drew him closer, opening her mouth against his, letting her tongue slide over his lips, until he opened his mouth against hers and let his tongue slip into hers, moaning with every new angle of the kiss. He buried his hand in her hair and pulled her head to one side, kissing his way down her neck, letting his tongue trace small patterns of lust down her skin, relishing in her taste and her scent. Hermione gasped and Snape pressed his body down, covering her body with his, pressing his erection against her. Instinctively Hermione moved against him. Snape kissed a trail down her shoulder, sliding the strap of her nightgown down, exposing her breast. He moaned as he felt the soft breast under his hand and frantically kissed his way down, taking the nipple in his mouth, letting the tip of his tongue flick over it. Hermione arched against him and moaned his name. Snape ripped the nightgown down on the other side, and covered her breast with his hand. "God she feels so good" he thought. Hermione slid her hands down his back, her nails leaving red marks, and he hissed against her breast. She bent her knees making him sink even closer, his erection pressed against her core. Snape slid a hand down her body and down one leg. As he started moving the hand up her leg, taking the nightgown with it, he heard Hermione moan in pleasure and whisper: "just be... I've never...please don't stop"

Snape froze and looked down at the girl beneath him. Suddenly he felt very sober. He kissed her lips gently and slowly pulled her nightgown down again. Then he kissed her cheeks and pulled the straps back up over her shoulders.

"Wait" Hermione said out of breath "What did I do wrong?"

Snape kissed her forehead and whispered: "Nothing. You did nothing wrong. Again I am at fault." Hermione started to protest, and as he looked at her beautiful face, eyes swollen from crying and lips swollen from his kisses, Snape felt like the lowest of monsters. He started to get out of bed, but Hermione tightened her grip on him.

"Please don't leave me now" she pleaded "The nightmares will come back, and I don't think, I am strong enough for another one tonight. Not after everything that has happened today." Snape felt the guilt burn inside of him. He laid down on his back and draped an arm around her. He wanted to leave and never get close to the witch again, but after what he had just done, he couldn't deny her. Hermione laid her head on his chest. "Snape," she whispered "why do you say, you are at fault? It is not as if I didn't.."

"Shhh" Snape cut her off. In the darkness he kissed the top of her head, and told her to go back to sleep. Exhausted from emotion Hermione fell asleep while Snape stared into the darkness, cursing himself and silently vowing never to let this happen again. When he was sure, Hermione was sleeping soundly and had been for a while with no sign of nightmares, he carefully got out of bed and left her room, looking at her as he closed the door.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thank you for your reviews, they make me happy and I love that there are people, who are enjoying my story. Also thank you to those who have favorited the story and who are following it – I am overwhelmed that so many have taken the time to read, what I have been writing. Please enjoy and review :-D**

Hermione woke up in a warm bed that carried the scent of Snape. She opened her eyes and found, she was alone. She sighed and tried to figure out, if she was relieved or disappointed. She couldn't quite understand what was happening between them. He had kissed her several times now but every time had been under some sort of distress, she mused. He had apologized afterwards every time, which she assumed meant, he wasn't interested in her in that way. But it had happened more than one time, and he was normally restricted and in control, so why would he kiss her if he didn't want to. Did she even want him, to want her that way? Hermione groaned and put her pillow over her head. It was to much. To much had happened. She was suddenly married to Snape in a beautiful but rushed sham of a marriage-ceremony. He had been attentive and had kissed her, he had clearly tried to make this easy for her. Did that mean, he cared for her? Why had he stopped last night, and why had he left her bed? Why did she even want him to stay? She needed time, she thought.

Hermione got out of bed and decided, she would take his lead. She could just see how he acted towards her, and take his lead from there. She pulled on some slippers and left her room, hoping for something she couldn't quite pinpoint.

Hermione walked into the kitchen to find Snape already sitting at the table, empty plate in front of him and today's edition of The Daily Prophet in his hand.

"Good morning," Hermione almost whispered "I didn't know, if I was supposed to eat breakfast here or in the Great Hall with the others".

Snape lowered the newspaper and looked at her with an unreadable expression.

"That, Miss Granger, is entirely up to you," he said and handed her the newspaper "but I would recommend you eat in here today to avoid any unpleasant reaction your classmates might have to our marriage. The house elves have brought us breakfast and The Daily Prophet has taken it upon itself to announce our marriage as a scandalous cradle-robbing event."

Without another word he left the kitchen and Hermione looked at the paper. The headline read:

_War Hero Love or Robbing the Cradle?_

After she had read the text, she lowered the paper and stared into the air for a long time. It depicted Snape as a cradle-robbing old man, who had been lusting after his young student. Hermione felt ashamed that she had not even considered the social implications this marriage would entail for him. After so many years of letting people think the worst of him, to protect Harry, he had finally been cleared and people had started seeing him for the man, he really was. Now this filthy paper smeared his reputation again, and he once again had to let people think he was despicable, this time in order to protect her.

"He must loathe this marriage," Hermione thought and stood to walk into the living room, where she could hear him.

"Snape," she started and let her hand, holding The Daily Prophet, flutter in a resignedly gesture.

Snape held up a hand to stop her, his expression still unreadable. "No need to dwell on that filth," he drawled, "instead you should get ready. We have a wedding to go to."

"What wedding?" Hermione couldn't recall having heard about a wedding, she was supposed to attend today. The last people from Dumbledore's Army were getting married today, but they had their families to be witnesses, Hermione wasn't needed.

"My godson is getting married today, we have to leave in one hour" Snape said, not offering any more information.

"Draco?" Hermione went through potential brides for Draco but came up short. "Who is Draco marrying?"

Snape looked at her, as if she was not his wife but something unimportant that had appeared in his quarters. Not that he looked more cross than usual, but he looked at her exactly as he had always done. Hermione felt her heart sink.

"Kingsley" he said before turning around and walking into his own room, leaving Hermione standing in the room, shocked.

Snape had hardly slept. He had tossed and turned for about an hour trying to figure out, how he could undo, what he had done. In the end he had gone into the kitchen and sat there, holding a quickly cooling cup of tea, while he tried to straighten out his mind. He had called upon everything he had learned in his years as a spy, and when the breakfast appeared on the table, he felt he had his thoughts and emotions under control. The key was to keep a distance to the girl, before he did irreversible damage to her and to her reputation. The latter would be badly enough harmed by the marriage alone, at least until the marriage-law had come and gone, and they could be honest about the nature of this so-called marriage. As the newspaper arrived he had almost lost his composure at the sight of the front page. Once again he was described as something akin to a monster, but although he could deal with that, it had after all almost become second nature to him, he would not stand by and see her name and reputation dragged through the mud. However, he had no idea how to reverse the damage, that had already been done.

"Distance," he thought, "the key to all the problems must be distance. If I keep my distance from her, she will be safe from me and everyone will be able to see, that she can hardly enjoy being married to me. There is only to be the least possible amount of interaction for the sake of the ministry."

His resolve almost faltered as she entered the kitchen clad only in her nightgown, so he stood up and left as quickly as possible.

* * *

Hermione and Snape arrived at the ministry shortly before the wedding. Weddings between two wizards were rare but not yet forbidden, and Hermione had never heard of such a marriage in the time she had been a part of the wizarding world. Snape had briefly explained to her, that the circumstances were similar to the ones that had caused her own marriage.

Hermione realized no one had seen Draco since his parents were sent to Azkaban, but it seemed Snape had visited his godson on occasion. She didn't understand why of all people Draco had to marry Kingsley. Draco didn't seem like the type, who needed protection from the marriage law. Even with both parents in Azkaban, Hermione was sure, there were plenty of girls, who would want to marry into the Malfoy family.

As she followed Snape through the ministry, Hermione tried to smile politely to the people they passed, who extended their congratulations on their marriage. Snape walked briskly, robes billowing around him and a disdainful look on his face. Before leaving Hogwarts she had asked him, if she was dressed accordingly, hoping for some sort of acknowledgement, but he had hardly looked at her, as he had walked over to the floo. Before stepping in, he had reached out his hand to her, but to her disappointment, he had let go as soon as they stepped out of the floo and into the ministry. She felt even more confused, than when she had woken up this morning, and she felt a tight ball of disappointment forming in her stomach. As they walked into Kingsley's office all her thoughts stopped, and she held her hand in front of her mouth, gasping in shock.

"Severus, Hermione," Kingsley smiled at them and walked over to shake their hands. "I am so glad you could come".

Hermione couldn't get her eyes of Draco, or the shell that had once been Draco. He was so thin, it looked almost as if a tight Draco-skin had been pulled over a skeleton. His once beautiful hair hang lifeless around his face, and he flinched as soon as Kingsley moved away from him. Hermione walked over to him and tried to shake his hand, but he drew away from her in a manner that reminded her of a dog, she had once seen her grandfather rescue from a home, where it was beaten on a daily basis. That was when she caught a glimpse of the worst part of Draco's appearance: his eyes. They were a mixture of dead and bottomless fear, Hermione had not believed possible. Snape walked up to him and said his name. Draco's head snapped up and he looked around in confusion until he focused on Snape.

"Godfather," he said before his eyes seemed to go dead again.

"Draco has not been feeling well since the war," Kingsley whispered to Hermione, while she was watching Snape cautiously grab a hold of Draco's elbow and talk to him in a soothing tone. Draco seemed to relax and for a short moment Hermione felt a pang of jealousy of the boy, who received Snape's attention.

Immediately she felt ashamed. Draco was clearly not himself and could use every kind word, Hermione just wished, she had received one of those from Snape as well. She directed her attention at Kingsley, who continued explaining:

"Everybody has taken care of the survivors from the winners, but no one has bothered to see, what was happening to the survivors from the wrong side of the war. Except for those who have been sent to Azkaban. Draco has spent his time alone in Malfoy Manor, but has been exposed to several attempts at assassination. He has overcome them, but has not left the Manor and has not seen anyone except Snape, who has visited him when he could."

Hermione was for once rendered speechless. No one had cared. He was her age and had been broken by Voldemort, had seen his parents being sent of to Azkaban and had everybody hate him and some even try to kill him, and no one had bothered to even ask, how he was doing. She looked at Kingsley with tears filling her eyes.

"I agreed to keep him safe," Kingsley continued, "the first time I visited him, I couldn't even get near him without Severus. Now he seems to trust me. I am moving him out of the manor today; to many memories of Voldemort and torture"

The door opened as the official, who was going to perform the marriage, entered, and Draco immediately stumbled off to a corner of the room, eyes wide. Kingsley was at his side in a flash, and Draco seemed to calm down once again.

The ceremony, which Hermione found out was called a binding and was legally equivalent to a marriage but not quite the same, was quick and event-less. Afterwards Kingsley shook hands with Hermione and Snape, never letting go of Draco, who seemed to try to hide himself at Kingsley's side, and left. Without a word Snape turned around and left for the floo, Hermione running to keep up with him.

* * *

Back in their quarters Snape went straight to his rooms leaving Hermione to herself. She spent most of the day wandering her rooms restlessly, trying to fathom the events of the last few days. At dinnertime one of the houseelves brought her food, but when she asked for some food for Snape, the elf told her, Mr Snape was having dinner in the Great Hall. Hermione felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over her head. She sat alone for a while, pushing her food around the plate, and then she went to sit on the sofa, trying to read a book, waiting for Snape to come back.

Two hours later Snape came back and went straight for his own rooms without acknowledging Hermione.

"Wait, please," Hermione said, just before he reached the door to his rooms. Snape froze but didn't turn around to look at her.

"Are you mad at me for something?" Hermione asked.

"And what would give you that idea?" Snape answered in a tone, that reminded her of the way he sounded in class, when she had asked one too many questions.

"It's just that you went to eat in the Great Hal without me, and you haven't spoken to me all day," she said, trying to keep the insecurity out of her voice, "I thought we would at least have dinner together."

Snape turned around slowly and looked at her, almost as if she was something rotten, he had found in his living room.

"Miss Granger," he said slowly "I bent over backwards for you yesterday, which you clearly misunderstood. Now understand this: I am not you babysitter nor am I one of your teenage-boyfriends."

Hermione took a step backwards, as if he had physically slapped her.

"I...I...," she tried not to let the tears welling up in her eyes fall "why are you acting this way? What have I done? Is it because of what they wrote in The Daily Prophet? "

"Nothing," Snape answered in the same disdainful tone "you, Miss Granger, have as usual done nothing out of the ordinary, and I have neither the time nor do I intend to adhere to your childish need for cuddling." With that he walked into his rooms and closed the door.

Hermione let the tears fall in disappointment and hurt while she whispered: "It's actually Mrs Snape now.."

* * *

One hour later Hermione had cried herself to sleep and the nightmares came back. As she started to scream, the door to her room opened silently as Snape entered her room casting a spell to ensure, he would not wake her, and walked quietly over to her bed. He sat down next to her while she thrashed and cried out her nightmare. When he started stroking her hair, she immediately calmed down and he sat next to her most of the night, stroking her hair when the nightmares threatened to come back, holding her hand and looking at her face when she slept peacefully.

When Hermione woke the next morning, she was alone.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: I am so sorry it has been so long since I last updated. I am not going to bore you with the whys and the personal stuff, but now I'm back and plan to update more often. Some angst in this chapter as well, but I promise it will get better from the next chapter on. Please review - pretty please?

* * *

Hermione stretched in her bed and yawned. She had slept the night through without waking. She stopped mid-movement. That was odd. She hadn't slept a night through without waking from nightmares since the war. She had slept half a night yesterday, when Snape had been next to her.

She turned over and buried her face in the pillow. Then she abruptly sat up and lay down again sniffing the pillow. It carried his scent. How could that be, when she knew the house-elves had changed the linen? It couldn't possibly still carry his scent from the previous night, because it was not the same bedding. She got out of bed and went to sit in the armchair, pulled her feet up and rested her head on her knees, while she tried to gather her thoughts. This could only mean, he had been in here during the night, but it didn't explain the lack of nightmare. Even if his presence made her sleep better, he would have had to stay with her for some time. She let her eyes wander to the bed again and felt a warmth spreading inside of her. He had. He had sat with her while she was sleeping, she was sure of it! She didn't understand quite why, but it didn't fit with the way he had behaved yesterday.

"Perhaps," she thought, "he also needs time."

With that she went to get ready for breakfast. She decided she would go eat in the Great Hall with her friends. Some time with her friends would do her good.

As she walked into the shared living area she saw Snape exiting his bedroom and smiled at him.

"I thought I'd eat breakfast in the Great Hall with my friends today...Sir," Hermione explained as she walked towards him. Snape didn't show any sign of friendliness and Hermione stopped.

"As I will also be attending breakfast, it will not be possible for you too sit with your little friends," he said. "You will be expected to sit next to me at the teachers table. It is either that or take your food in our private quarters. At occasions where I am not present you can sit with your dunderhead friends," he looked down at her without any emotion but disdain showing on his face.

"Oh, I see..," Hermione let her head fall.

"Believe me Miss Granger, I am not looking forward to this any more than you are, but you must be aware that ministry officials will be questioning the legitimacy of the newly formed weddings of all the former Order members. It is vital that we keep up appearances."

"Of course," Hermione tried to smile "I just hadn't thought about it."

Snape walked to the door, Hermione following him.

"Should we perhaps..,"

Snape turned and looked at her, one eyebrow raised as to ask her, what she was about to say. Hermione gathered her courage.

"Should we perhaps hold hands or something when we walk into the Great Hall?"

"Do I look like a seventeen year old boy to you Miss Granger? We are to keep up appearances of a marriage but that does not mean, I have to behave like someone other than myself." Snape turned to walk. Hermione felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. Of course, how silly of her. She hurried along when she saw Snape hold the door for her and almost had to run to keep up with him, as he walked through the corridors. Just outside of the teachers entrance to the Great Hall he stopped and Hermione almost bumped into him.

"Your suggestion is not without merit though," he drawled "although your idea was that of a child." With that he offered her his arm and she looked up at him in surprise. His eyes clouded over with irritation and she quickly took his arm and let him lead her to the table.

Every sound in the Great Hall stilled as they entered. Hermione looked up at Snape but his face was as emotionless as ever. She tried to keep her head high as they reached the teachers table and Snape held her stool out for her to sit. As soon as they had sat down it seemed everyone started to talk. Sitting at the teachers table the sudden on-burst of children gossiping sounded like a roar and Hermione felt her eyes sting. She looked up at Snape who seemed to notice neither her nor the gossiping as he started eating his breakfast. Hermione looked around and saw the other students looking at her, some with disdain, some with curiosity and some almost hateful. She felt her heart starting to beat erratically fast and felt out of breath. Thoughts swirling around in her head of Snape who had kissed her but obviously disliked her, of the classes she could not participate in, of the classes where she would have to meet all the other students, the newspapers writing about her marriage, Draco's eyes... Just as she thought she was going to burst her eyes locked with Harry's. Harry's gentle, reassuring eyes smiling up at her and she took a deep breath and gave him a small smile.

For the rest of breakfast Hermione pushed her food around on the plate and cast stolen glances at Snape. Every now and then she looked to the part of the Gryffindor table, where her friends sat and exchanged warm smiles with them. When breakfast was nearing an end Snape stood and held out his arm to Hermione. As they walked out of the hall she cast long glances at her friends, who were leaving with the other students.

"I will escort you to your class" Snape suddenly said.

"Thank you, Sir, but you really don't have to," Hermione tried to answer him politely. She couldn't wait to just walk around with her friends as any other student. Snape's expression didn't change as he simply repeated:

"I will escort you to your class."

"But Sir," Hermione started to get annoyed, "it will be easier for me to walk alone. The other students..."

"It is because of the other students that I will escort you to your class, Miss Granger" Snape sounded more than annoyed, "believe it or not, but I have better things to do with my time than babysitting you, and once the reactions to this marriage have died down you can walk by yourself. For now I will escort you." He didn't raise his voice but the tone left no room for argument and he held her arm in an iron-like grip as he briskly walked her towards the classroom. As soon as he saw Harry come towards them he loosened his grip and almost threw her in his direction.

"I trust you will stay close to my wife and shield her" he snared before turning and walking away with his robes billowing around him. Hermione again felt tears sting her eyes, but Harry quickly put an arm around her and she relaxed in the familiarity of her friend.

Classes were horrible. Everybody seemed to have an opinion on her marriage and all through the day she was constantly harassed by other students who sent her notes with varying obscene content, "accidentally" bumping in to her and mumbling words like "whore" or "slut" and the majority just staring at her before putting their heads together and whispering. She tried to ignore it and Harry tried to shield her, but there were just to many. After the last class of the day was over, she stood to walk with Harry to the Gryffindor common-room when they were suddenly surrounded by Slytherins.

"Now we know how you got your high grades Granger" one of them said while the other ones laughed. Harry held Hermione in one arm, cradeling her to him, and tried to push through the crowd with the other. The group of Slytherins got louder and insults flew through the air. Hermione froze when one of them gripped her breast while snickering:

"What will I have to pay you for an hour?" She felt Harry let go of her and saw him lunge towards the offending guy, but in a flash something flew in between them hurling the guy against the wall. Ron was pressing the the tip of his wand against the neck of the Slythering while he was panting with rage and a look of almost madness in his eyes.

"Touch her again and you are dead!" he yelled before drawing his hand back and punching the baffled guy out. Harry had drawn his wand and pointed it in a circle at the group of Slytherins:

"Any of you want to test if I can hex you as good as I hexed Voldermort, then please say one more word to Hermione!"

The group of Slytherins quickly backed away and Hermione threw herself at Ron.

"Ron, I thought... you..." she sobbed while Ron awkwardly stroked her back.

"Well, I hope this means you forgive me," Ron said with his face buried into her neck.

Hermione looked up at him: "Always."

Harry placed an arm around each of his friends and for a brief second the three friends stood in a close embrace before heading to the Gryffindor common-room. They spent the afternoon catching up and although there was some whispering gossip surrounding them it was neither as bad or as hateful and Hermione slowly started to relax.

Before dinner Ron and Harry walked her to her new home in the dungeons where she met Snape who then escorted her to dinner in the Great Hall and sat silently beside her. After dinner he escorted her back to their rooms. He didn't talk to her. Hermione took out one of her books and tried to read but after a while the silence felt so overwhelming that she stood to leave.

"Ahm.. I think, I'll just go to my room then" she said nervously and looked at Snape, who was sitting at the table grading papers. Snape looked at her for a second before turning back to his papers with a curt:"Goodnight Miss Granger."

Hermione went into her room and sat at the desk to do her homework. She had trouble concentrating so it took longer than normally and after finishing the last assignment, she prepared for bed where she lay for an hour while thoughts raced through her head. The teasing and condemning, the joy of having made up with Ron, the whispering behind her back, the way Snape only touched her when he led her to the Great Hall and back. Finally she cried herself to sleep. The next morning her pillow smelled of Snape.

Over the next few days the whispering behind her back seemed to lessen, but she still had people "accidentally" bump in to her and mumbling obscenities under their breath several times a day. She had managed to convince Snape that no one was bothering her, so he would let her walk between classes without him. She had a feeling it would never stop, if he kept escorting her everywhere she went.

Snape wasn't mean to her, but seemed totally indifferent and she hardly ever saw him. He only spoke to her when he absolutely had to, and there was no sign of the thoughtful man she had glimpsed previously. She had had a glimmer of hope, that he sometimes sat with her when she slept, but she had resigned to the thought that the faint smell of him on her pillow in the mornings must be due to the fact, that this was his home. But at least her nightmares seemed to have faded. Still, between feeling lonely most of the day, when she was not with Ron and Harry, the bullying, the overwhelming upheaval of her life and the silent Snape, Hermione had a hard time concentrating. For the first time in her life, her school work suffered and she found herself crying almost every time she was alone.

* * *

Snape didn't know what to do with the witch. He had made a promise to himself that he would stay out of her way as much as possible and it seemed to be the right decision. It seemed clear to him that se disliked his presence. She flinched when he took her arm to escort her into the Great Hall, but that part couldn't be helped. They had to keep up appearances. The Order had learned that ministry officials were looking into the validity of the many sudden weddings of The Order and the DA-children.

In their own quarters she always went straight to her room and he tried his best not to infringe on her personal space. He stayed away and only talked to her, when she spoke. Which was almost never. But she still seemed to get a little paler with each day and lately even her work had suffered.

"What do you expect," he thought to himself "she is forced to live down here with you and you have forced yourself on her like a hormonal teenager. You probably scared her senseless and still she has no choice but to come back down here to you every day. She has to sit with you at every meal and you are the first thing she sees every morning". Snape felt a heavy burden tighten around his chest. He didn't know what else to do. He stayed away from her as much as possible to at least give her the illusion, that she was not bound to him, but she still seemed almost depressed. Only at night when she slept did he approach her. Not that he cared for her, he reminded himself, but something drew him to her room every night when he heard her whimpering at the onset of her nightmares. He didn't quite understand why, but his presence seemed to keep the nightmares at bay, and he took a guilty pleasure in sitting next to her and watching her while she slept. He would even hold her. But for the last few nights the nightmares had seemed to worsen. He had no idea what to do. Perhaps he should stay away at night as well. He could only imagine her horror if she found out he sat beside her while she slept.

That night Snape paced back and forth in front of Hermione's door as he heard her crying in her sleep. "You must respect her privacy, she would not like it if she knew you have been holding her while she sleeps" he reminded himself every time he was about to run to her side and soothe her.

In the morning Hermione woke feeling more tired than she had in a long time. The nightmares were back. She buried her face in he pillow and inhaled. Nothing. It didn't even smell like him any more. She felt a sense of loss that she couldn't explain and wept into her pillow.

* * *

One Saturday as Snape was getting ready to leave their rooms Hermione gathered her courage and approached him.

"Excuse me, Sir," she looked down on her hands expecting him to sneer at her.

Snape turned around to look at her. In his robe, standing like this, looking down his nose at her he still looked intimidating to her as he raised an eyebrow as to ask her, why she was talking to him.

"It's just...," she fidgeted a little "I know it's none of my business where you are going, but I was wondering if you were going to visit Draco, and... and if I could visit with him as well?" She took a deep breath of air and looked at him as if she was expecting to be chastised.

Snape was taken aback.

"Of course you can visit with Draco, Miss Granger. In fact I think it would do him good." He turned to leave when he felt her hand on his arm, only for a second, then she jerked it away as if she had been burned.

"Sir, I was wondering if I could come with you now to visit him. I don't think it would be wise of me to visit him alone for the first time, given his condition."

Snape looked at her in confusion. She wanted to go somewhere with him?

"Don't be daft old man," he silently berated himself. "She doesn't want to go somewhere with you. It's her bleeding Gryffindor heart that makes her want to visit Draco. And she is right, it probably would be better for her not to visit him alone. He is still not well."

He didn't answer Hermione but walked to the floo and held out his hand to her. She looked relieved and took his hand as she stepped up to him. He curled his arm around her and as he threw down the green powder to floo them to their destination, she let her head fall to his shoulder and instinctively he slid his hand up in her hair, cradling her to him. As soon as they arrived he realized, what he had done and pushed himself away from her. Hermione looked at him with an expression he couldn't read and he noticed the dark circles under her eyes. But then he quickly turned to greet Kingsley while he silently cursed himself for letting his guard down and holding her close. He could see it had upset her.

The visit went well. At first Draco had shied away from Hermione, but then Snape had sat down on the couch placing Draco beside him and had started talking to him, telling him all sort of trivialities and Draco just listened and looked at Snape. Kingsley had moved for Hermione to sit on the big couch as well, and she had sat down on the other side of Snape. In order not to push Draco, she opened her purse and took out a book and started reading. She had no idea what she was reading though, but kept listening in on what Snape was telling Draco: his thoughts on lesson plans, funny mistakes the first years had made, memories from when Draco was a child. She kept stealing glances at him. He looked handsome, she thought. And at ease. He almost smiled. She shifted a little to be able to get a better look at him. His eyes seemed to hold tenderness when he looked at Draco, and she felt a twinge in her heart. If only...

Kingsley came back from the kitchen bringing them all tea and biscuits and Hermione felt confused. She had wanted Snape to look at her with that look of tenderness directed at her. But why? Before she could think more about it Kingsley interrupted her trail of thoughts.

"Severus," Kingsley said quietly "a word?"

Snape stood, patted Draco's hand and left the room with Kingsley. Draco immediately tensed up so Hermione turned to read her book again. She could sense Draco staring at her. She took her purse and pulled out a chocolate bar from Honeydukes. She unwrapped it and broke off a piece and ate it, then she put the rest on the table between them – a little closer to Draco than to herself. After a while she felt the couch shift as Draco reached out and broke off a piece. She waited a little then she broke off a piece. Shortly after Draco broke off a piece. At the end there was only one small piece left and it was Hermione's turn. She picked up the piece and turned to Draco holding it out to him. He looked up at her for the first time and she smiled to him. Then she saw a hint of a smile and he almost looked like himself for a second, before he reached out tentatively and took the chocolate from her. At that moment Snape and Kingsley returned and Snape went to say goodbye to Draco. Hermione stood to leave. She shook hands with Kingsley and turned to smile at Draco who suddenly stood and took her hand.

"Goodbye Hermione," he said "Please come back to visit"

Snape and Kingsley fell quiet and Hermione felt her heart beating with joy and triumph.

"I would love to Draco," she answered "Perhaps sometime next week?"

Draco nodded.

Hermione's head was spinning with joy. She had reached him. There was still hope for Draco. Without thinking she walked to stand in the floo with Snape, who was overwhelmed with joy that his godson had talked to someone. For a moment he forgot that he had promised himself they would floo back separately, and in sheer gratefulness he enveloped Hermione in his arms and flooed them back. As they arrived in their own chambers he still had his arms around her, and she looked up at him with sheer joy. He lifted his hand and stroked a stray curl away from her face, without thinking about it. Hermione's head was spinning out of control as he suddenly tensed up and pushed her away. She felt dizzy with thoughts and emotions. His kiss in the Tower so long ago, his apologies, her being forced to marry, giving up on her dreams, her wedding night where something but nothing had happened, Rons reaction, the bullying, his scent on her pillow, the loneliness, the joy of making up with Ron, Draco's eyes, the feeling of peace when Harry embraced her, Snape sneering at her, the weight of the necklace he had given her on her skin, him pushing her away in disgust, the feel of his hand against her cheek as he pushed away a stray curl... and with that Hermione sank to the floor unconscious.


End file.
